The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Dutton/brady High School
Dutton/Brady High School is a very small public high school serving grades nine through twelve in the agricultural town of Dutton, Montana. With a student body of a few dozen, it is among the smallest high schools in the county, and its size shapes nearly every aspect of the experience a family can expect here.
The student population is predominantly white, with a modest share of Hispanic students and a handful of students of other backgrounds. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that mirrors the economic reality of this rural farming region. The school is part of the Dutton/Brady K-12 district, which includes the elementary and middle grades, and the high school building sits at the center of town alongside the public library, the town office, and the volunteer fire department. For a family considering this school, the setting is an important factor: Dutton is a small, car-dependent community in Montana’s Golden Triangle wheat and barley region. The town's population has seen a long-term slow decline, and there is no significant new housing development. Daily life revolves around agriculture, and many residents commute roughly fifty miles to Great Falls for broader employment.
State assessment data for this high school is not available in the usual sense. The testing results reported in the data are for grades three through eight, which do not apply to this grade band. Therefore, there are no publicly reported proficiency rates in math, English language arts, or science from the state’s Smarter Balanced or science assessments for Dutton/Brady High School. A parent looking to gauge academic performance would need to ask the school directly about how its students perform on the high school–level assessments Montana administers, such as the ACT or other end-of-course exams. The comparison that places this school’s proficiency index in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Teton County is based on those grade three through eight data, which is not a meaningful read for a high school. Simply put, the available numbers do not tell a story about academic achievement at this school.
No graduation rate is reported in the data, so it is not possible to say how many students finish in four years. The school’s very small enrollment means that a single year’s cohort can fluctuate significantly—twelve seniors were enrolled in the most recent count, which is a typical size for a graduating class here. Families should expect that class sizes are small across all four grades.
There is no information in the data about Advanced Placement courses, dual credit offerings, career and technical education, or other program pathways. Given the school’s size, the range of course offerings is likely limited, though dual enrollment with a nearby college or online options may be available. Again, this is something a family would need to confirm directly with the school or district office.
The town itself offers very few amenities: a bar and café, two parks, a municipal swimming pool, and a library. The nearest hospital is about twenty miles away in Choteau, and the major commercial and medical hub is Great Falls. Housing values in the area are well below the state median, and home prices have risen modestly in recent years, but the market is not under pressure. For a family already rooted in agriculture or seeking a rural, close-knit environment, Dutton represents a specific lifestyle choice.
What this school offers is familiarity and individual attention. With so few students, teachers likely know every student by name, and extracurricular participation—whether sports, FFA, or other activities—is probably accessible to nearly anyone who wants to join. The trade-off is a thin academic menu and limited exposure to a diverse peer group. A parent weighing this school should begin by asking the principal or counselor about actual academic outcomes: graduation rates, college-going rates, and the specific assessments Montana requires for high schoolers. The data does not supply those answers, but the community likely holds them.
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