The top reported proficiency rate is 35% in Science. The lowest is 0% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Chief Joseph School
Chief Joseph School is a pre-kindergarten through sixth grade public school in Great Falls, Montana. It serves a neighborhood in a city that functions as a cultural and commercial hub for central Montana, with the Missouri River running through it and Malmstrom Air Force Base acting as the largest employer. The school is part of the Great Falls Elem district, and district-level changes were looked for but none that amounted to a lasting impact were publicly reported.
The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial share of students identifying as two or more races, and smaller shares identifying as Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, Black, and Asian. A majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. This is a school of modest size for its grade band, with an enrollment that is contained enough that families can expect a school where most adults know most students by name.
State testing data for the 2023-24 school year is available for only one subject, and the pattern matters. The school reported proficiency results for science, but not for math or English language arts. In science, about a third of students tested at the proficient level or above. When compared across districts in Cascade County, the school’s overall proficiency index, which lumps together all reported subjects and grades, fell in the bottom quartile. A parent should be aware that without reading and math results for the tested grades, the picture of academic performance here is incomplete. The absence of those scores may reflect the nature of the school’s testing population in a given year, but a family may want to ask the school directly about current math and ELA instruction and how student progress is tracked.
The school serves only through sixth grade, so there is no high school graduation rate to report. The data does not include information on discipline, course access, staffing ratios, or attendance rates, which are all areas a parent might want to explore by contacting the school.
Housing in the zip code that covers the school’s attendance area has seen a modest increase in home values and rents over the past year, consistent with broader national trends in shelter costs. Home values in the area are below the statewide median for Montana, and typical rents are lower than the cost of a monthly mortgage at current interest rates, which makes this a more affordable market relative to much of the state. A family looking at homes in this part of Great Falls will find a city with a concentrated set of civic attractions, including a number of museums and interstate access, and an economy shaped by the presence of the military base.
This is a neighborhood elementary school serving families in a mid-sized Montana city with a large military-connected population. The academic picture is partial because key assessment data is missing, and the available science proficiency is below average compared to other Cascade County districts. The school is neither a high-stakes competitive environment nor one with an obvious standout academic profile from the data provided; it is a straightforward, community-grounded school where a parent will want to look closely at how the school measures and communicates student progress in reading and math.
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