The top reported proficiency rate is 46% in Math. The lowest is 0% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Frenchtown Elementary School
Frenchtown Elementary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through third grade in the unincorporated community of Frenchtown, Montana, a bedroom community roughly a short drive northwest of Missoula. Because the school covers only the earliest grades, many of the metrics families typically look for do not apply here. There is no graduation rate, no chronic absenteeism data, and no course access information because those categories are not relevant to a PK-03 building. State testing is administered only in grades three through eight, so the test results that are available come from a single grade level. A parent considering this school should understand that its academic profile is a narrow snapshot of very young students.
On the 2023-24 Smarter Balanced assessments, third graders at Frenchtown Elementary posted proficiency rates in math and English language arts that fell below the midpoint when compared across districts in Missoula County. The school’s overall proficiency index placed it in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in the county. In math, roughly two out of every five tested students met the state’s proficiency benchmark, and in English language arts the share was slightly lower. Science results were reported as zero because no students in the tested grade band were assessed; that is not unusual for a school where the only tested grade is third, and science testing may simply not have applied to that cohort in that year. The scores are a single data point, and a parent may want to ask the school how early literacy and numeracy instruction are being approached and what trends look like over multiple years.
The school itself is part of the Frenchtown K-12 Schools district, a unified system serving the entire community. Enrollment sits at a moderate size for an elementary school serving just five grades, with roughly four hundred and forty students. The student body is predominantly white, with small shares of Hispanic students, students identifying as two or more races, and even smaller numbers of American Indian, Alaska Native, Asian, Black, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. Just under two out of every five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that places the school in a broadly middle-income range. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available, so a parent should ask the school directly about how those populations are supported.
Frenchtown itself is a low-density, auto-dependent community strung along the I-90 corridor, with no traditional walkable downtown. The school is located on Main Street, the same highway frontage that holds most of the town’s civic and commercial uses. The community has seen a dramatic growth spurt in the past two decades followed by a period of stabilization, and it now functions largely as a bedroom community for Missoula. The closure of the Smurfit-Stone paper mill, once the dominant employer and a major source of the school district’s budget, has left an economic gap, although the mill site is under EPA Superfund cleanup. Housing values in the area are well above the national median, making this a relatively expensive place to buy a home, particularly for a rural community. Rents are more moderate, but the overall housing market favors owners over renters.
The district brief turned up no recent major changes or strategic initiatives that were publicly reported, so a parent should look to the school’s website or contact the district office directly to learn about current programming, curriculum updates, or any new support structures.
Frenchtown Elementary School is best understood as a small, grade-limited building in a community that has undergone significant economic transition. Its test scores are modest, but they reflect a single year and a single grade, not a full academic record. Families considering this school will want to visit, talk to teachers about early literacy and math instruction, and understand how the district supports students as they move into the upper elementary grades and beyond. The school fits a parent seeking a neighborhood elementary experience in a rural-residential setting where the school is woven into the community’s main corridor.
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