The top reported proficiency rate is 60% in English language arts. The lowest is 49% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Augusta Elementary School
Augusta Elementary School serves students from prekindergarten through eighth grade in the small, unincorporated ranching community of Augusta, Montana. The school is part of the Augusta Elem district, which is a very small rural system. For secondary grades, students move on to the Augusta High School, which is part of a separate district within the same town’s public schools.
The school’s enrollment is small, and the student body is predominantly white, with small numbers of students who identify as two or more races or as Hispanic. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic realities of a community whose livelihood remains rooted in the cattle business and where major employers are small-scale, centered on ranching, federal land management, and tourism and recreation.
Academically, the school’s results on the Smarter Balanced assessments in the most recent school year paint a mixed picture. In English language arts, a solid majority of students met or exceeded the proficiency bar, a sign of a workable foundation in reading and writing that many families would look for in an elementary program. In math, the share was below a majority, though still within a range that a parent may want to explore further with the school to understand how they address math instruction. Science testing results for the school were suppressed due to the small number of test-takers, a common occurrence in very small schools where privacy rules require masking. The school’s overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grades placed it above the midpoint when compared to other districts in Lewis and Clark County, though it is worth noting that only a small number of districts in the county have elementary-level testing data available for this kind of comparison, so the field is limited.
The community of Augusta is defined by its rural character. The town sits along a historic Main Street with original buildings still in use, and it functions as a gateway to the Bob Marshall Wilderness, the Scapegoat Wilderness, and the Lewis and Clark National Forest. The economy is driven by ranching, federal land management, and outfitting and guide businesses serving the wilderness areas. The town is compact, with no public transit and limited commercial life outside the Main Street corridor. The population has seen minimal change over recent decades, with no evidence of major new housing development or suburban-style growth. Housing values in the area are moderate relative to state and national benchmarks.
The district that operates this school has experienced a decline in per-student revenue over several years, and its spending per student is below the state median. In a small rural district, revenue contraction of this nature can have direct effects on programming, staffing, and the material resources available in classrooms. A family considering this school should be aware that the district is operating with a tighter budget than many others in the state.
This school is best understood as a community anchor in a small, agriculture- and wilderness-oriented town. It provides a full prekindergarten-through-eighth-grade pathway in a setting where the school, the public library branch, and the Forest Service ranger station form the core of local civic life. The small enrollment means that class sizes are likely low and that students are well known to staff. The academic profile shows a competence in English language arts and a weaker result in math that merits a conversation with the school. The district’s fiscal pressure is a real consideration for any family trying to gauge long-term stability and breadth of offerings.
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