From ‘satisfied’ to ‘phenomenal’: BCSD test scores reveal highlights amid ongoing challenges

Students in Blaine County schools made significant progress in some sections of scholastic testing in the 2025-26 academic year, though some groups continued to lag behind established standards and require extra instruction, reports from the Blaine County School District indicate. In a presentation to the district’s board of trustees on June 9, BCSD Assistant Superintendent Adam Johnson issued reports on scores from a variety of tests for district students in kindergarten through 11th grade. Results from the SAT—the College Board Scholastic Assessment Test—for 11th-grade students in the Blaine County School District show that those students trail behind state and national averages. However, one significant factor means the comparison is not “apples to apples,” Superintendent Jim Foudy said Monday. In fact, district officials say, the SAT results show that the scores are within the district’s five-year average and many 11th-graders made solid progress as they moved from taking the practice-version PSAT to the more meaningful SAT. The SAT—the final set of mandated tests for students—is administered each spring to 11th-grade students as a measure of student proficiency in reading, writing and mathematics. SAT scores have been used nationwide as an indicator of college preparedness and to compare student performance among different groups. The SAT is scored on a scale of 400 to 1,600, with the total score tallied as a sum of scores in two test sections, reading/writing and math. In the two sections, scores are issued in a range of 200 to 800. Key results from the spring tests are: - SAT scores by school (mean total score) were: Carey—984, Silver Creek—865, Wood River—958, BCSD total—955, state—1,000, U.S.—959. - In the district, 25% of students met both established “benchmarks,” target scores for college readiness, set at 480 for reading/writing and 530 for math. One-third of students in the district, 33%, met at least one of the two benchmarks, while 42% met neither benchmark. The scores are within the district’s five-year average. - Students performed better in reading/writing than in math. “A larger percentage of students scored in the 490-600 and 610-plus ranges in reading and writing compared to math, suggesting stronger literacy readiness than quantitative readiness,” Johnson’s report to the board states. By comparison, spring 2025 mean total scores at district schools were: Carey—958, Silver Creek—865, Wood River—981, district—973, state—1,005, U.S.—965. Though the district’s scores are below the state and national averages, Johnson said the comparison is not a true indication of how BCSD students performed. While most school districts in Idaho and in other states don’t mandate that all 11th-grade students take the SAT, the BCSD does. The net result is that the district’s scores include many students who don’t perform above averages, Foudy said. “Elsewhere, you have college-bound students taking the test who are going to do well anyway,” he said. Meanwhile, comparing SAT scores from year to year is also not a reliable indicator of overall student performance, Johnson said, because class performance can vary substantially from year to year. A better measure of student success on the SAT, Johnson said, is the five-year average and an analysis of how students improve from taking the PSAT—which is administered to students in grades 8-11—to the SAT in the spring of their junior year. “We’re pretty satisfied with the progress we’re seeing in the reading and writing domain,” he said. “We need to do better in math.” ISAT scores show district met benchmarks The district last week also released a report on scores from the ISAT—the Idaho Standards Achievement Test—an exam administered to Idaho students in grades 3–8 and 11 that measures student proficiency in reading and mathematics. It also tests science knowledge in grades 5, 8 and 11. The district’s goal for ISAT testing is 2% class improvement year to year. Students tested met the goal in math, language arts and science, Johnson reported. “We were three for three in meeting our goals,” he said. In his report, Johnson states: - As a district, 49% of students tested at or above grade level in English language arts, a 4% increase over the previous year. Six of seven grades met their continuous improvement growth goal of 2%. - Student proficiency in math rose from approximately 37% to about 39%. Seventh and eighth grades both showed “strong performance this year,” the report states. In math, the district needs to focus on fifth and sixth grades, and high school grades. - Students’ proficiency rate in science rose from 40% to 43%, with strong performance at the high school level. - Final data will “likely be slightly higher” when the state releases its final numbers in August. Because the BCSD has a high number of students who are learning English and are not proficient, overall scores can be pushed downward, Johnson said. The ISAT rules allow for a one-year testing exemption for new language learners for English language arts, but not for math or science. “In reality, one year of language instruction is inadequate for students to have the ability to fully participate and showcase their skills and knowledge,” Johnson said in the report. For students who test well below standards, the district implements various intervention measures, such as extra instruction or changing a students’ teaching program, Johnson said. Kindergarten reading skills show major jump In reporting the scores, the district touted success in early-grade reading, assessed through the Idaho Reading Indicator, or IRI. The test is administered to Idaho students in kindergarten through third grade, though the BCSD tests students through fifth grade. - The percentage of eligible kindergarten students reading at grade level in the spring increased from 46% in October to 86% in the spring. Among first-graders, 77% were reading at grade level in the spring, after 66% scored at grade level in October. - In second grade, the numbers were lower, with 53% of students reading at grade level in the spring, 23% reading “near/below grade level,” and 24% “well below grade level.” - Among third-graders, 60% tested at grade level, while 26% tested at near/below grade level. Foudy called the results among younger students “phenomenal.” “It takes a village to reach these kinds of results,” he told the board. Johnson said the IRI scores are also affected by the district’s high percentage of students studying to learn English. Students learning English get a two-year exemption from the IRI, he said, but two years is not enough time for them to become proficient and subsequently test well, he said. “Our district is a diverse population,” he said. “We’re proud of our performance.”