Original Research by School Decision on Monument Sd 8
Monument SD 8 is a small rural school district in Grant County, Oregon, serving students from preschool through twelfth grade in a single school, Monument School. The district’s enrollment is very small compared to most Oregon districts. By racial and ethnic composition, the student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic and American Indian or Alaska Native students. Asian students make up a small presence, and the data shows no Black, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, or multiracial students enrolled. Information on how many students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, receive special education services, or are identified as English learners was not available in the data sources used here, so a parent would need to ask the district directly for that context on economic need and support services.
State testing data for the 2024-25 school year, which covers math, English language arts, and science across grades three through eight, was entirely suppressed in the available records. That suppression typically occurs when the number of students tested is very small, which is consistent with a district of this size. As a result, the standard picture of academic proficiency that parents often use to compare districts is absent here. The district’s overall proficiency index across tested subjects could not be calculated for the same reason, and a graduation rate was also not present in the data, though the district includes high school grades. A parent considering this district should understand that the small population means state accountability measures may not produce the kind of detailed, publicly reported performance data that larger districts provide. Asking the school directly about academic outcomes, curriculum, and postsecondary pathways would be essential.
On measures of student engagement, chronic absenteeism stands out as a concern. The district’s rate of chronic absenteeism falls above the midpoint when compared to the four Grant County districts that reported this metric. Given that the rate is already above the county median, and that absenteeism at these levels can indicate significant lost instructional time for a substantial share of students, a parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what supports or interventions are in place.
Per-pupil current spending in Monument SD 8 sits in the middle range, at the upper half of Grant County’s districts. That suggests the district is not spending at the lowest end, but neither is it at the top of the county’s spending range. The context is that Grant County itself includes a wide range of per-pupil spending levels, and Monument’s spending is toward the higher side of the middle, which could reflect the cost of running a small, rural district with a single school.
The locale brief for Monument and the surrounding area was not provided, so there is no concrete information here on housing values, rental costs, or the character of the community beyond its location in rural Grant County. A search for recent district changes or strategic priorities did not turn up anything of lasting impact, according to publicly available information.
For a family considering this district, the key takeaway is that Monument SD 8 is a very small, rural school system serving a single school. Academic performance data from state tests is not available in the usual form due to suppression, so direct inquiry with the school is necessary to understand student outcomes. The community is likely tight-knit given the size, and the school presumably offers the intimacy of a close learning environment. The chronic absenteeism rate is a signal to investigate further. There is no comparative graduation rate or program offerings in the data, so a parent should ask about course options, extracurriculars, and college or career preparation directly. The district fits a family seeking a small, rural setting where the school is the center of the community, but it requires active engagement to fill in the information gaps left by suppressed data.
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