The reported proficiency rate for Science is 3%.
Original Research by School Decision on Lame Deer Elem
This is a very small, rural district in Montana that serves students from prekindergarten through eighth grade. The district has two schools, an elementary school and a separate school for seventh and eighth graders. All of the district’s roughly four hundred students are enrolled in these two buildings.
Virtually every student in the district is Native American, with a small number of Hispanic students and a tiny number of students identifying as two or more races. The district is located in Rosebud County, a large, sparsely populated area in southeastern Montana. Because the district only serves grades PK through eight, it does not have a high school, so there is no graduation rate to report.
State testing data for math and English language arts was suppressed for the most recent year, meaning the state did not report those results publicly. Science testing data from the prior year showed a very low proficiency rate. In comparison to other districts in Rosebud County, the district’s overall academic proficiency across tested subjects and grades placed it in the bottom quartile of the county’s districts. This is a significant area of concern, and a parent may want to ask the schools directly about current academic progress and support strategies.
Chronic absenteeism is a major issue here: the rate of chronic absenteeism falls in the bottom quartile among Rosebud County’s districts, meaning it is very high. This likely has a strong impact on classroom continuity and learning. A parent looking at this district will want to explore what attendance supports and interventions the schools have in place.
On the spending side, the district’s per-pupil current expenditure is in the middle range among the county’s districts, falling in the lower half. This suggests it is not an unusually under-resourced district in a funding sense, but the spending level is not exceptionally high either.
The district brief found no recent major changes, such as leadership turnover, bond campaigns, or program launches. This district appears to be an established, stable institution serving a small, close-knit community. For a family, the central facts are a student body that is almost entirely Native American, a small and intimate school environment with a single elementary school and a middle school, very low reported academic performance in the limited data available, and a serious absenteeism challenge. These are the primary considerations for any parent evaluating this district.
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