Winlock School District

The Winlock School District in Washington state consists of 3 schools: Winlock Miller Elementary, Winlock Senior High, and Winlock Middle School. The district serves a predominantly White and economically disadvantaged student population, with over 70% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch across all schools.

Academically, the Winlock schools consistently perform below state averages on standardized tests in both English Language Arts and Math. For example, in the 2023-2024 school year, only 40.74% of students at Winlock Miller Elementary were proficient in ELA compared to the state average of 52.63%, and just 28.83% were proficient in Math versus 41.68% statewide. The high school fares slightly better, but still lags behind state benchmarks with a 51.72% ELA proficiency rate for 10th graders (compared to 66.2% statewide) and only 16.07% proficient in Math (versus 33.4% statewide).

While the district spends relatively high amounts per student, ranging from $15,621 at the middle school to $20,198 at the high school, this does not appear to be translating into improved academic outcomes. The schools' performance metrics have remained stagnant or declined slightly over the past 3 years, with no signs of meaningful improvement. Additionally, the high school's 89.5% four-year graduation rate is slightly below the state average, and its 6.2% dropout rate is higher than desired. Overall, the Winlock School District faces significant challenges in providing a high-quality education to its students and will need to address the root causes of its low performance to better serve the community.