Copyright Salt Lake Tribune
A Salt Lake County school that could be shut down as early as next school year secured a spot among Utah’s Top 10 elementary schools for 2026, according to U.S. News and World Report’s annual rankings. The school, Eastwood Elementary, is in the Granite School District, where nearly half of the state’s Top 10 traditional elementary schools are situated, according to the list. The rankings are based on student performance in reading and math. Sunrise Elementary, part of the Canyons School District, claimed the No. 1 slot. U.S. News and World Report ranked charter elementary schools separately from traditional ones. In Utah, charters are considered public schools, though they operate independently from the state school system. Here are the 2026 rankings for both traditional elementary and charter elementary schools. A full list of Utah elementary schools and their rankings can be found on U.S. News and World Report’s website. Top 10 traditional elementary schools 2026: Top 10 charter elementary schools 2026: How did U.S. News determine the best schools? The report analyzed public school math and reading performance using the most recent assessment data available through the U.S. Department of Education: math scores from the 2022–23 school year and reading scores from 2021–22. Reading scores for the 2022-23 school year were not available as of September 2025, when U.S. News performed the analysis, according to the news release. Additionally, Utah had not reported reading data for the 2021-22 school year, so 2020-21 scores were used for the analysis, the news release stated. The latest analysis included roughly 47,000 public elementary schools, focusing on state assessments of students who scored as “proficient” or “above proficient” in math and reading, while also accounting for student background and achievement in core subjects, according to the news release. U.S. News provided no national rankings — only state- and district-level rankings specific to charter and traditional public schools.
