The top reported proficiency rate is 45% in Science. The lowest is 0% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Emerson School
Emerson School sits on Phillips Avenue in Butte, Silver Bow County, serving students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. It is an elementary school with a student body of moderate size for its grade band, drawing from the surrounding neighborhoods of this historic mining city.
Butte itself is a consolidated city-county with a working-class, industrial character shaped by its copper mining heritage. The Uptown Historic District, one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts in the country, anchors the city’s civic and commercial life. Mining operations remain visible within residential areas, and the Berkeley Pit, a massive former open-pit mine and part of the nation’s largest Superfund site, sits adjacent to the Uptown district. Major employers include Montana Resources, a copper and molybdenum mining company, Montana Technological University, and the consolidated city-county government. The city is a highway crossroads where Interstates 90 and 15 meet, and it sits on the Continental Divide in the northern Rocky Mountains. The housing market in the area shows home values that are below the state benchmark, with rents that have been rising. A household earning the national median income would find the area’s typical rent to be a manageable share of that income, though the monthly cost of owning a home would be higher than renting.
Emerson School enrolls a student population that is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic group and a small share of students identifying as two or more races. Every student enrolled qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a fact that signals the school serves a community of high economic need. This is a significant characteristic for a parent to consider, as it shapes the peer environment and may influence the types of resources and supports available. Data on the number of students receiving special education services or classified as English learners was not reported.
Regarding academic performance, the available testing data is partial. In mathematics and English language arts for grades three through eight, the reported proficiency rate was zero percent. That figure is worth examining further. It is possible that very few students were tested in those subjects, or that the testing circumstances produced this result, so a parent may want to follow up with the school directly to understand what happened in those assessments. In science, where a more substantial number of students were tested, the proficiency rate was moderate. When compared to other districts in Silver Bow County, Emerson’s overall proficiency across tested subjects places it in the bottom quartile. Because the school serves only elementary grades, no graduation rate is reported, and data on chronic absenteeism and course access was not available.
The school is not a charter school. No information was available on its Title I status, magnet status, or specific staffing ratios. The district, Butte Elem, had no parent-relevant changes publicly reported in recent years, so the school’s context is stable in that regard.
For a family considering Emerson, the picture is one of a school in a historically rooted, economically challenged community, serving a high-need student body. The test results in core subjects are a soft spot that warrants direct conversation with the school. The science results give a partial but more positive glimpse. The school’s size and grade span are straightforward for an elementary feeder, and its setting in Butte offers the character of a historic mining city with access to Montana Technological University and the outdoor recreation of the Rocky Mountains. The housing market is relatively affordable compared to the state as a whole. A parent should weigh the school’s academic standing against the specific supports and community fit their child requires.
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