The reported proficiency rate for Science is 0%.
Original Research by School Decision on Birney School
Birney School is a single public school serving the tiny, remote community of Birney in southeastern Montana, from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. The school is the sole institution of the Birney Elem district, which is essentially the school itself and the handful of families it serves. With an enrollment of just eight students, this is one of the smallest public schools in the state, and its character is defined entirely by that scale and its extreme rural setting.
The student body is predominantly White and Native American, a composition that reflects the surrounding census-designated place of Birney, which sits just outside the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. The community population has been in decline, and the area remains deeply rural ranchland. There is no meaningful commercial district, and the nearest town of any size, Ashland, is about a long drive north on a gravel road. For a family already living in or near Birney, the school is the local anchor, but for anyone outside the immediate area, the distance and sparse population make this a highly particular choice.
Because the school serves an extremely small number of students, state assessment results are largely suppressed to protect student privacy. For the few students tested in math and English language arts, the state does not report a proficiency rate. In science, where data was reported, no students tested at a proficient level, though the number of test-takers was so small that this single data point carries limited weight for comparison. The school falls in the bottom quartile of overall proficiency among Rosebud County districts, but it is important to read that position in context: this is a school of eight children, not a typical elementary school, and the county comparison set includes very small districts as well. A parent considering this school would want to speak directly with the staff about what academic progress looks like day to day, as published metrics cannot give a meaningful picture.
The school serves its community as a pre-K through eighth grade program, meaning it covers the full span of elementary and middle school grades in one building. There is no high school; students who continue past eighth grade would need to attend school elsewhere, likely in Ashland or another nearby town. No data on program offerings, course access, or extracurriculars was available, which is common for a school of this size. The instructional environment is likely shaped by multi-grade classrooms and individualized attention, a necessity with very few students spread across nine grade levels.
No recent changes or strategic priorities were reported for the district, and no data on discipline, staffing, or chronic absenteeism was available. The school has no charter or magnet status. Information on whether it receives Title I funding was not provided.
For a family living in the remote Birney area, this school offers the basic public education function without requiring a long daily commute to another community. For anyone else, the setting, the tiny enrollment, and the limited published academic data mean that understanding the school requires direct contact rather than a statistical profile. The school remains open and operational, serving its small population in a landscape that has changed little in decades.
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