Original Research by School Decision on Napoleon 2
Napoleon Public School District covers a single community in rural North Dakota, serving students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade across two schools, Napoleon Elementary and Napoleon High School. The district's total enrollment is small, with roughly two to two dozen students per grade level. The student body is nearly entirely white, with only a handful of students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. Data on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, special education services, and English learner populations was not available, so we cannot characterize the district's economic need or special-population context from the information provided.
Academically, the district operates under North Dakota's A-PLUS assessment, which is a relatively new system. The state flags that the assessment name and cut scores have changed, which means these results represent a baseline year rather than a continuation of a prior trend. Trend comparisons against earlier years are not available. Proficiency is reported as a range rather than a single figure, a pattern that typically reflects very small testing cohorts where the state suppresses exact numbers to protect student privacy.
In mathematics, the picture is mixed across grades. Third grade and fifth grade show relatively strong proficiency ranges, while fourth grade sits notably lower. Middle grades from sixth through eighth fall into a middling band, with neither consistently strong nor consistently weak results. English language arts follows a similar pattern of year-to-year variation, with fourth and sixth grade landing in a moderate range while third, fifth, and eighth grade show lower proficiency bands. Science, tested only in fourth and eighth grade, lands in a solid range for both. Participation rates across all tested grades and subjects are generally strong.
A parent reading these results should keep two things in mind. First, the range-based reporting means the actual proficiency rate could fall anywhere within the given band, so the data gives a general sense rather than a precise measure. Second, with small cohorts, a few individual students can shift a grade's results substantially from one year to the next, so single-year numbers in a district this size are less stable than they would be in a larger system. A parent may want to look into how the district uses these baseline results to inform instruction, given the new assessment framework.
The district includes both an elementary school and a high school, both currently open. No graduation rate data was provided, and no information on advanced coursework, career pathways, dual-credit offerings, or other program options was available. Without that information, we cannot characterize what the high school pathway looks like beyond the basic fact that it exists as part of this single-district community.
We looked for recent parent-relevant changes in the district, such as facility updates, program launches, or leadership transitions, and found nothing documented beyond basic directory and demographic information. No locale brief, housing data, or community economic context was available either, so we cannot describe the surrounding town's housing market, employment base, or growth trajectory.
What we can say is that Napoleon 2 is a very small, rural, homogeneous district where students move from elementary through high school within the same system. The academic results from this baseline assessment year show real variation across grades and subjects, with some grades performing well and others trailing. For a family considering this district, the key questions are the ones this data cannot answer: what the high school experience looks like in terms of courses and post-graduation pathways, what support services exist for students who need extra help, and how the district plans to respond to these first A-PLUS results. Those are conversations worth having directly with the school.
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