The top reported proficiency rate is 54% in Science. The lowest is 49% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Poly Drive School
Poly Drive School is an elementary school in Billings, Montana, serving students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as part of the Billings Elementary district. It sits in the middle of a city that functions as the primary trade and distribution center for a vast region spanning much of eastern Montana and parts of Wyoming and the Dakotas, and that regional role gives the school a distinctly urban-suburban feel within a larger hub.
On state assessments, students at Poly Drive posted proficiency rates that place the school in the top quartile among elementary schools and districts in Yellowstone County, based on an index that averages performance across tested subjects and grades. In both math and English language arts, roughly half of students scored at or above the proficient level on the Smarter Balanced assessment, and in science, a slender majority met the bar on the Montana Science Assessment. These results sit above the county median for the proficiency index, a notable position given the size of the county and the number of schools in it. The school does not serve grades that produce a graduation rate, so that metric does not apply here.
The student body is predominantly white, with smaller but visible shares of students who are Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, and of two or more races, along with a handful of Black, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. About one in five students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that is well below the national average and suggests a relatively lower concentration of economic disadvantage than many schools in the state. Data on students with individualized education plans and English learners were not available in the profile, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the scope of special education and language support services.
The school sits within the Billings Elementary district, and no recent district-level changes of lasting impact were found in publicly available sources. The district itself appears stable from the outside. Billings has been growing steadily for decades, earning its nickname as the Magic City, and that growth brings both opportunity and pressure. Homes in the ZIP code that includes Poly Drive carry a median value above the national typical home, and rents are similarly elevated relative to many parts of Montana. The county housing market shows signs of cooling slightly, with the median listing price down a modest amount year over year and homes taking a bit longer to sell than they did a year ago, but demand remains solid and supply is tight. For a family considering a move to the attendance zone, the housing costs reflect a market that has appreciated substantially in recent years and that continues to draw buyers drawn to Billings's role as a regional employment and services center.
No information about course access, staffing, discipline, or attendance was available in the data. For a school that only runs through fifth grade, those gaps are common in state reporting, but a family interested in class sizes, enrichment offerings, or behavioral climate would need to get that from the school directly.
Poly Drive School offers a reliable, above-average academic experience for an elementary student in Billings, set in a city that is economically active and growing. The student body is relatively homogeneous economically and racially, with a modest share of low-income students and the highest share of white students. For a family that values a school with a strong academic track record relative to the county and that is situated in a stable, regional hub city with a wide array of retail, medical, and cultural amenities, Poly Drive is a strong candidate. Families looking for a school with a more diverse student population or with specific programs for English learners may want to look more closely at what the school offers, but the core academic picture is clear and positive.
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