Original Research by School Decision on Finley-sharon 19
Finley-Sharon 19 is a small rural district in Steele County, North Dakota, serving students from kindergarten through twelfth grade across two schools, Finley-Sharon Elementary School and Finley-Sharon High School. The enrollment is small enough that every grade has only a handful of students, which shapes nearly everything about the academic and social experience here. Class sizes are intimate by necessity, and students grow up knowing nearly every peer in their grade. The district recently expanded its grade span to include pre-kindergarten, according to publicly reported NCES data, so families with young children now have access to early childhood education within the district rather than seeking alternatives elsewhere. That change is a concrete improvement for a community of this size.
The student body is predominantly white, with small numbers of Hispanic, American Indian, Black, and multiracial students. The district did not report free-or-reduced-price lunch data, IEP rates, or English learner counts, so there is no clear picture from the available data of the economic needs or special-population composition the district is working with. A parent may want to ask the district directly about these supports.
State assessment results are limited and should be read with the enrollment context firmly in mind. The only recent NDSA data available is from the 2020-21 school year, covering sixth grade. Just eleven students were tested in both math and English language arts at that grade level. Math proficiency fell in a low-to-moderate range, with two of those eleven students scoring proficient or above. ELA proficiency landed in a moderate range, with three students proficient or above. With tested groups this small, a single student's result shifts the picture substantially, and the ranges reported reflect that uncertainty. Participation was below full, which is not unusual for a small rural district during that pandemic-affected year. A parent looking at these numbers should treat them as a rough signal rather than a definitive measure, and the age of the data, now several testing cycles old, adds to the caution. More recent state testing results were not available in the data provided.
The district also has science assessment results, but those come from the 2017-18 school year and cover grades three through eight combined. Proficiency was reported in a very high range at that time, suggesting strong science outcomes in that period. Because the data is old and the tested group was small, it is best read as a historical snapshot rather than a current indicator. No trend data across multiple years was available to show whether performance has shifted.
Graduation rate data was not provided for this district. For a district this small, a graduating class may consist of only a few students, which makes published graduation rates volatile from year to year and sometimes suppressed for privacy. No civil rights data, course access information, staffing figures, or discipline data was available either, so there is little in the provided material to characterize the breadth of advanced coursework, extracurricular offerings, or student support services. These are areas a parent would need to explore directly with the district.
No locale brief was available, so the community context comes mainly from the housing data. The district draws from areas including Northwood, Portland, and Cooperstown. Housing values across these zip codes vary, with Portland and Northwood at the higher end and Cooperstown considerably lower, where values have declined year over year. The weighted district home value sits well below the North Dakota state benchmark and further below the national benchmark, which means housing here is relatively affordable compared with much of the state. Mortgage rates remain elevated nationally, which affects affordability even in lower-cost markets. Rental data was not available for this district.
No comparison fact-set was provided to position Finley-Sharon among its neighboring districts, so there is no basis in the data to say how it stacks up against other Steele County or regional districts on enrollment, academic performance, or housing. That comparison would need to come from other sources.
What the available data does say clearly is that this is a very small, tight-knit rural district that has recently invested in expanding access for younger children through pre-kindergarten. Academic data is thin, dated, and based on very small tested groups, so it cannot carry much weight on its own. The housing market is affordable relative to the state. Families considering Finley-Sharon would be well served by visiting the schools, asking about current assessment results, and understanding what programs and supports are available in a setting this small.
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