Original Research by School Decision on Parshall 3
Parshall Public School District serves students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade in Mountrail County, North Dakota. The district operates two schools, Parshall Elementary School and Parshall High School, and its enrollment is small for a district covering the full grade span. The student body is predominantly American Indian or Alaska Native, with a smaller white population and a modest Hispanic presence. A handful of students identify as Asian, Black, or two or more races. The district did not report free-or-reduced-price lunch counts, special education rates, or English learner figures in the data we received, so we cannot characterize those dimensions here.
State assessment results from the most recent year are available through North Dakota's A-PLUS system, though the state flags this as a year of assessment and cut-score changes, which means trend comparisons against prior years are not reliable. In math, proficiency across grades three through eight sits in a generally low-to-moderate band. The upper elementary and middle grades mostly fall in the lower portion of their reported ranges, with eighth grade reaching somewhat higher. English language arts follows a similar pattern, with most grades in the modest range and eighth grade again the relative standout, reaching into a higher band. Science was tested in grades four and eight, with fourth grade landing in a middling range and eighth grade lower. Participation rates were consistent, with most grades at or near full participation though a few grades dipped modestly below that. A parent evaluating academic outcomes may want to ask the district directly about how it is responding to these proficiency levels, particularly in the elementary and middle grades where the results are weakest.
No graduation rate was provided in the data, and because the district does serve high school grades, that gap reflects a missing report rather than an inapplicable metric. Civil rights data, course access information, staffing figures, and discipline records were also absent, so we cannot speak to those areas. The district brief returned no recent news of referendums, curriculum changes, property-tax shifts, or other parent-relevant developments, so there is nothing new to flag on that front.
The housing picture for the area places the district in relatively affordable territory. The typical home value sits below the North Dakota state benchmark and well below the national one, and the price-to-income ratio is modest by national standards. Home values have been appreciating at a healthy clip year over year, suggesting some momentum in the local market, though the baseline remains accessible compared with much of the country. Rental data was not available. The housing data is tied to a single contributing zip code, so it should be read as a rough proxy for the district's catchment area rather than a precise measure.
What emerges is a small, rural district serving a majority Native American community, with assessment results that indicate real academic challenges in the elementary and middle grades and some relative strength in eighth grade. Housing is affordable and the market is warming. For a family considering Parshall, the conversation with the district about how it supports students below proficiency, what programs are available beyond the tested subjects, and how it serves its Native student population would be an important next step.
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