The top reported proficiency rate is 60% in English language arts. The lowest is 43% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Gardiner School
Gardiner School serves prekindergarten through sixth grade, making it an elementary and early-middle school by grade band. The school sits in the small unincorporated gateway community of Gardiner, Montana, a town whose identity and economy are tied directly to Yellowstone National Park's North Entrance. The park boundary runs through downtown, and the primary year-round vehicle entrance to Yellowstone is here. The local economy is driven by tourism—lodging, dining, retail, and guided services—along with the National Park Service and local government. The school is the elementary division of Gardiner Public Schools, which operates a single building in town housing all grade levels across three divisions.
Enrollment is small, with roughly sixty students across kindergarten through sixth grade, plus prekindergarten. The student body is predominantly white, with small shares of Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial students. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a marker of economic diversity in the community. Funding and special population data such as special education and English learner counts were not available in the data provided, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those supports.
State testing results come from the Smarter Balanced Assessment for math and English language arts, and the Montana Science Assessment for science, all in grades three through eight. The school's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint among districts in Park County. In English language arts, the share of students scoring proficient or above was notably higher than in math. The math proficiency rate was below that mark, and a parent may want to discuss with the school what interventions or supports are in place for math. Science results for the tested grades were suppressed due to a small number of test-takers, so no public assessment data is available for that subject. Because the school serves only through sixth grade, there is no graduation rate to report.
The school is not a charter school, and data on Title I status, magnet status, and other designations was not available. No program offerings beyond standard elementary curriculum were reported in the data provided. The district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes such as referendums, curriculum shifts, or bond measures to report.
Housing in Gardiner is expensive, with home values well above both the state and national benchmarks. This reflects the premium placed on living in a Yellowstone gateway community with limited real estate. The town saw modest population growth in recent years, but its development is constrained by geography—the river valley and the national park boundary—so large-scale residential expansion is unlikely. The 2022 Montana floods damaged the North Entrance Road, requiring temporary reconstruction, and the town's infrastructure remains tied to tourism. A short drive north on US Highway 89 connects Gardiner to Livingston, which offers additional services.
For a family considering this school, the picture is of a very small, rural elementary school in a tourism-driven town with high housing costs. The school's academic profile shows stronger English language arts results than math, and the small enrollment means class sizes are small. The community is tight-knit, and the school building serves as a central civic anchor in a place where the downtown and the national park are essentially adjacent. A family looking for a small-school setting in a dramatic natural landscape with a heavy tourism economy would find this a distinctive environment. A family wanting broad program offerings, a larger peer group, or a more suburban range of housing options would need to look to Livingston or beyond.
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