The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Fairfield High School
Fairfield High School sits in the center of a small agricultural trade town on Montana’s Fairfield Bench, a stretch of irrigated barley and grain fields between Great Falls and Choteau. The school itself is a single building serving grades nine through twelve, and the town’s tiny footprint means the high school is integrated into the residential and commercial fabric along Highway 89 rather than set apart on a sprawling campus. Fairfield publicly bills itself as the “Malting Barley Capital of the World,” and the dominant employers are agricultural—Busch Agricultural Resources runs a major malting barley facility here, and the Greenfield Irrigation District supplies water from Gibson Dam to surrounding farmland. The town has seen slow, steady population growth in recent years, but it is also facing an acute water shortage: drought has caused the irrigation district to shut off water early, wells have gone dry, and the town has imposed water limits. These conditions are part of the broader context families moving here would encounter.
State testing data for Fairfield High School is not available in a way that allows meaningful comparison, because the assessment results provided cover grades three through eight, and this school serves only high school students. No graduation rate appears in the records either. The absence of these metrics does not reflect on the school’s performance; it simply means that the data typically used to evaluate high schools—end-of-course exams, ACT scores, four-year graduation rates—were not included in the source materials. A parent should expect to ask the school directly about recent ACT results, dual-credit enrollment, and college-going rates before forming a judgment. Publicly reported recognition may offer some signal: Fairfield High School has appeared in U.S. News Best High School rankings, and the district’s elementary school earned a National Blue Ribbon award in multiple years, which can reflect a broader culture of academic attention.
When placed relative to other districts in Teton County on an overall proficiency index, the school falls in the bottom quartile. That comparison, however, draws on the same grade-band data that does not apply to a high school, so the position is likely an artifact of missing data rather than a statement about student achievement. It is a metric that a parent should set aside and investigate with local sources.
The student body is small. Enrollment is in the low hundreds, with roughly equal numbers across each grade. The demographic makeup is predominantly white, with small shares of Hispanic, Asian, Black, and multiracial students. About 45 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that indicates notable economic diversity and suggests the school serves a mix of farm families and working households. The district operates as a single high school within a K–12 system, so the elementary and middle grades feed directly into this building.
Housing in Fairfield is modest by Montana standards. Home values in the ZIP code sit below the state average but above the national median, and the market has seen steady appreciation. Monthly mortgage costs on a typical home would be a significant but not extreme share of household income, especially for families employed in the area’s agricultural sector. The town is compact and walkable within its small footprint; there is no public transit, and Highway 89 is the main artery.
For a family considering Fairfield, the school offers a small-scale high school experience in a tight-knit agricultural community. The absence of published academic outcomes means that due diligence—calling the principal, reviewing course offerings, asking about Advanced Placement or dual enrollment through the state’s Running Start program—is essential. The town’s water crisis and slow growth are real considerations, but the school has institutional recognition and a stable K–12 structure that may appeal to families seeking a rural setting with modest housing costs and a central role in community life.
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