Ponemah Elementary, Ponemah MN - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Ponemah Elementary

Ponemah Elementary is a regular public school serving prekindergarten through eighth grade in the remote community of Ponemah, located on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Beltrami County. It is part of the Red Lake Public School District. The school sits within a census-designated place that is overwhelmingly Native American, primarily members of the Red Lake Band of Ojibwe, and the student body reflects that: nearly all enrolled students identify as American Indian or Alaska Native. The school’s enrollment is small, and a very high share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker of the deep poverty that characterizes the surrounding community. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available, so a parent would need to contact the school directly for that information.

On the most recent state assessments, which cover grades three through eight in math and English language arts, proficiency rates were very low grade by grade. In math, only a handful of students reached proficiency in third grade, while in fourth, fifth, and eighth grade no tested student scored proficient. Sixth and seventh grades showed similarly small fractions. In English language arts, the pattern was the same: most tested grades recorded no proficient students, with seventh grade showing the highest rate, still at a modest level. Science results for eighth grade also reported no students proficient; fifth-grade science data was suppressed because the tested group was too small to report. Only one year of testing data was available, so there is no trend to examine. Compared with other school districts across Beltrami County, Ponemah Elementary’s overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quarter of the comparison group. This is a clear picture of academic performance that a parent would want to explore further and discuss directly with the school to understand what supports and interventions are in place.

Because Ponemah Elementary serves only through eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. No information was available about course offerings, programs such as career or dual-credit pathways, or enrichment activities. A parent looking for those details would need to seek them from the school or district.

The community context matters here. Ponemah is a remote, dispersed settlement with no downtown, no conventional street delivery, and no public transit. Its population has declined over recent census decades, and median household income is extremely low. The post office, the school, and tribal government services serve as the primary civic anchors. Most travel is by personal vehicle over rural roads. The school itself is a key institution within the community, but families considering moving to the area should be prepared for a very isolated, resource-limited environment. The district brief found little publicly reported about recent changes or initiatives in the Red Lake Public School District.

Ponemah Elementary is a school defined by its setting: a small, high-poverty, tribally affiliated school on a remote reservation. The academic numbers are deeply concerning by conventional measures, and a parent considering this school would want to understand what steps the school is taking to improve outcomes and what wraparound support exists for students and families. For families already in the community, the school is the natural neighborhood school; for outsiders, the decision to enroll involves weighing the school’s role in the community against the very low test results and limited data on programming.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 38%

School 8% · District 8% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 47 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Grade 40%

School 0% · District 5% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 51 pts below state median

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 2% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median

Grade 612%

School 12% · District 3% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 77%

School 7% · District 2% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 1% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 30%

School 0% · District 8% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 42 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Grade 40%

School 0% · District 11% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 41 pts below state median

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 8% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 54 pts below state median

Grade 66%

School 6% · District 10% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 40 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Grade 720%

School 20% · District 12% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 87%

School 7% · District 7% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Science

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 1% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median

This schoolRED LAKE PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.