The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Hartland Elementary School
Hartland Elementary School in Havre, Montana, is a small public school serving students from preschool through eighth grade. It operates under the Chinook Elem school district. What makes this school stand out immediately is its enrollment: the student body is very small, and the student population is entirely white. There is no data available on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, nor on how many students receive special education services or are English learners, which are gaps a prospective family may want to discuss with the school directly.
The school’s academic performance is essentially not measurable in the way most schools are. The state testing data from the most recent year shows that no students were tested in math, English language arts, or science. There were no students enrolled in the tested grade levels (third through eighth) that year, which explains the absence of all proficiency rates and participation rates. Because Hartland serves only through eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. For a parent, this means there is no standardized academic output to evaluate; the school’s academic profile is defined entirely by its day-to-day program and local reputation rather than by state exam results or a graduation metric.
Relative to the other districts in Blaine County, Hartland’s overall proficiency index, which averages reported proficiency across tested subjects and grades, falls into the bottom quartile. That comparison, however, is based on only three districts in the county that reported proficiency data, and Hartland’s index value of zero reflects the fact that no students were tested. The comparison is not particularly informative given the lack of tested students.
The school itself is located at 2105 Woodpile Road in Havre. Havre is a city that functions as the medical and business hub for the Hi-Line region of Montana. It was founded as a railroad service center for the Great Northern Railway, and the downtown grid still reflects that history, with U.S. Highway 2 running through as the main commercial street. The largest employers are Northern Montana Hospital, Montana State University–Northern, and BNSF Railway, though the railroad scaled back its workforce in the 1990s. Havre’s population is declining slightly, and no major new housing developments were publicly identified in recent searches. The town does have civic anchors like the Havre-Hill County Library, Beaver Creek Park, the H. Earl Clack Museum, and an Amtrak station on the Empire Builder line.
Housing in the area is more affordable than the national and state benchmarks, with home values well below both. That economic context matters for families considering a move to the area for the school. The wider district, Chinook Elem, has no publicly reported recent changes that would affect a family’s decision.
Hartland Elementary is not a school that will appear in the typical rankings or state report cards. Its size is so small that standardized testing simply does not happen in most years. For a family looking for a highly intimate, rural school environment where their child would be part of a very small peer group, and where the academic program would be known firsthand rather than through data, Hartland could be a fit. For anyone who wants to compare test scores or see a track record of academic outcomes, the school offers nothing to work with. Visiting the school and speaking with staff about curriculum and student experience is likely the only way to get a real sense of what it offers.
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