Original Research by School Decision on Box Elder H S
Box Elder High School is a single-school district located in Hill County, Montana. Its grade span is ninth through twelfth. The district is rural and operates a single high school building. No locale brief was available for the community the school serves, so the broader county context is the main lens.
The student body is very small. Nearly all students identify as American Indian or Alaska Native, with tiny shares of Hispanic students and students of two or more races. Data on free or reduced-price meal eligibility, students with disabilities, and English learner status were missing, so the district's economic and special-education profile is not directly available from the sources used here. Parents should expect a school where the student population is almost entirely Native American, reflecting the local community.
State assessment data for math and English language arts was suppressed for the most recent school year. The state changed both the assessment name and the cut scores during that period, which makes trend comparisons impossible. No state testing results are available to describe academic performance against state standards. Parents looking for a quantitative read on achievement will need to ask the school directly for its performance picture, as the public record does not offer one.
The district's chronic absenteeism rate stands out sharply. It is the highest among Hill County's districts, placing in the bottom quartile on this metric. A very high share of students missed enough school to be counted as chronically absent. This is a soft spot that a family may want to discuss with the school to understand what support is in place and what factors are driving the pattern.
Per-pupil current spending is in the upper range when compared to other districts in Hill County, meaning the district puts a relatively high level of financial resources into each student. No breakdown of how that money is spent was available. No data on course access, staffing ratios, discipline, or attendance beyond chronic absenteeism was provided.
The district has no documented major changes in recent years. No programs such as Advanced Placement, dual credit, or career and technical education pathways were reported in the data. The school's website and other public sources yielded only basic directory and fiscal information, with no detail on academic offerings or extracurriculars. A parent considering this school will want to reach out directly to learn about course options, college and career preparation, and the day-to-day learning environment.
Housing costs in the county are well below both the state and national benchmarks. The weighted home value for the district area is modest, and price growth over the past year has been strong but from a low base. The national mortgage rate at the time of this profile was above six percent. The local unemployment rate and median household income figures are national, not county-specific, so the precise economic context for families in this district is not captured here.
This is a small rural high school serving a predominantly Native American student body in a county with relatively affordable housing. The academic record is essentially blank in the public data. The absenteeism rate is a clear concern. Families who want a fuller picture will need to engage directly with the school, as the public-facing information leaves many questions unanswered.
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