Original Research by School Decision on Big Stone Colony High School
Big Stone Colony High School is a small regular public high school serving grades nine through twelve in rural western Minnesota. It is part of the Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley school district and is located on Big Stone Colony Road outside the town of Clinton. For a family considering this school, the most important fact to absorb is its size: the total enrollment is tiny for a high school, with all four grade levels combined. Most students are in ninth grade and one is in twelfth grade. The entire student body is reported as white. Data on economic disadvantage, special education, and English learner status were not available, so a parent should ask the district directly about the supports in place.
Academically, the school’s state testing picture is nearly absent. For the most recent year with data, the proficiency rate in English language arts for all students was reported as zero percent for a single year’s data point. No trend is available, and no results for math or science were provided. Because the enrollment is so small, a single year’s test score can reflect the performance of just one or a handful of students, and it is difficult to draw general conclusions about the program from that alone. A parent will want to speak with the school about what instruction and assessment look like day to day, and whether students are taking the state assessments at all or are exempted in some way.
No graduation rate was available, which is common when a school has too few students in a cohort to report it publicly without risking identification. The comparison data that exists places this school among the two districts in Big Stone County, but the comparisons for proficiency, graduation, and chronic absenteeism were all marked as not applicable because the school lacks the necessary reported figures.
The community context is a small rural agricultural town. Clinton is a quiet place with a traditional Main Street, a city park, and civic anchors such as the Big Stone County Fairgrounds and a history museum in the former train station. Housing values in the surrounding area are well below the state and national benchmarks, and the year-over-year increase in home values has been strong relative to the national trend, though from a low base. Economic context shows a national unemployment rate and median household income that are typical for the period.
Because the school is so small, the peer environment is essentially a single classroom or two, and the academic pathway will be highly individualized by necessity. A family considering this school should expect to need a close working relationship with the school and district to understand course offerings, college preparation, and any career or dual-credit opportunities, as those program details were not available in the data provided. The school’s location in a rural township means that transportation and access to broader resources will be a practical consideration for any family not living on the immediate road.
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