The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on East Evergreen School
East Evergreen School serves students from pre-kindergarten through fourth grade in Kalispell, Montana, as part of the Evergreen Elementary School District. The school is a public elementary that feeds into the district’s middle and high school grades, with no charter or magnet status. It is located in the Evergreen neighborhood, a residential area on the outskirts of Kalispell’s core.
The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic minority and small shares of Native American, Black, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and multiracial students. The school reports that every enrolled student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which is one of the highest poverty concentrations among elementary schools in the area. This means the school participates in universal meal programs and likely qualifies for additional federal supports, though the school’s Title I status was not reported in the available data.
State testing results are not available for East Evergreen, not because of low participation but because the school serves grades that are not tested under Montana’s assessment system. The state administers the Smarter Balanced assessments in math and English language arts starting in third grade, and the Montana Science Assessment in grades four, eight, and eleven. East Evergreen enrolls third and fourth graders who would normally be tested, but the data shows zero students tested with zero proficiency rates reported. The comparison with other Flathead County districts places East Evergreen’s overall proficiency score in the bottom quartile, but this figure is based on no tested students and should not be interpreted as a measure of academic performance. A parent should ask the school how the district measures early-grade progress and whether classroom-level assessments are shared.
The school’s enrollment is moderate for an elementary serving PK-4, with the largest class in second grade and somewhat smaller groups in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. Class sizes appear manageable, and the grade distribution suggests a stable population, though the district has experienced a notable enrollment decline over the past several years. The Evergreen district peaked roughly a decade ago and has since lost a sizable portion of its student body, a trend the school board has discussed publicly for its implications on staffing and programming.
The Evergreen district recently approved its largest-ever general fund budget, driven by state-level increases in per-student funding and a one-time staffing stipend. This additional revenue may help offset the enrollment decline’s effect on resources. More pressing for families with students in the upper elementary grades is the district’s ongoing facility challenge at Evergreen Junior High, which serves grades 5-8. A bond to repair that building failed in spring 2023, and the board has been weighing options from minimal repairs to a full replacement. Because East Evergreen sends its fourth graders to that junior high the following year, this is directly relevant.
Kalispell is a growing regional hub in northwest Montana, with an economy anchored by healthcare, tourism tied to Glacier National Park and Flathead Lake, and some lumber and agriculture processing. Housing values in the area are elevated relative to national benchmarks, with a recent slight decline in median listing prices but still placing homeownership out of reach for many households. Rents are also high, making the area’s overall cost of living a consideration for families. The city’s downtown is walkable, but most of the residential and school areas are auto-oriented, and the drive to the school from outlying parts of Kalispell is straightforward via the main east-west thoroughfare.
For a family weighing East Evergreen, the central facts are these. The school serves a high-poverty population, and it appears all students qualify for meal assistance, which may mean the school has wraparound supports but also faces the challenges that accompany concentrated poverty. The lack of state test data means no public benchmark for academic performance in math, reading, or science at the school level; families will need to rely on conversations with teachers and the principal, report cards, and any local assessments the district administers. The district is navigating both a long-term enrollment decline and a facility funding gap at the junior high, so the pipeline beyond fourth grade is not entirely settled. For families who can afford the area’s housing costs and want an elementary school with a clear socioeconomic support structure, East Evergreen is a straightforward neighborhood option in a district that is adapting to change.
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