The top reported proficiency rate is 52% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Highwood School
Highwood School serves students from prekindergarten through fifth grade as the elementary campus of the Highwood K-12 district in rural north-central Montana. The school’s enrollment is small, characteristic of the sparsely populated Big Sag Valley where the unincorporated community of Highwood sits about twenty-five miles east of Great Falls. The school shares a single campus at the same address with the middle school and high school, making the cluster of buildings the primary civic and educational hub for an area with no traditional downtown, no public transit, and a post office that has operated continuously for over a century.
Academically, the most recent state testing in math and English language arts for grades three through five showed that roughly half of students met or exceeded the Smarter Balanced proficiency standard. That places the school above the midpoint among the handful of districts in Chouteau County when the two tested subjects are averaged together. Because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report. Science results for the grade band were suppressed by the state, which happens when the number of test-takers is very small, a common situation in a school of this size.
The student body is overwhelmingly white, with a small number of students identified as Black, Hispanic, or of two or more races. Just over a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a share that is moderate for a rural Montana school serving an agricultural community. Data on students with individualized education plans or English learner classifications were not available in the source records. The school does not appear to have a Title I designation on file, and no information on discipline rates, chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, or course access was reported.
The housing market in Highwood’s ZIP code shows typical home values above the national median but below the Montana state median. Home prices have appreciated notably in the most recent year-over-year comparison, following a pattern seen in much of the state. Rental data was not available at the ZIP code level. The school’s immediate housing stock consists of older single-family homes on agricultural parcels; the broader community has roughly ninety housing units, most built decades ago. The population has declined over the past several census counts, and there are no documented new housing developments or commercial expansions.
The district’s three schools are all housed on the same West Street South campus, so elementary students attend class alongside middle and high schoolers in a shared setting. No recent district-level changes such as property-tax shifts, curriculum updates, or facility referenda were found in publicly available sources.
For a family considering Highwood School, what stands out is the small scale and the rural context. The school offers an elementary program in a setting where the entire K-12 experience happens on one campus. A parent may want to ask the school directly about special education services and English learner support, since those data points were not in the records. The community itself is quiet, with few amenities and a reliance on Great Falls for shopping, employment, and health care. The school’s academic performance, as measured by state tests, sits above the county midpoint, but with such a small tested population, year-to-year results can shift noticeably. The lack of a graduation rate is simply a function of the grade band; the high school down the hall would carry that measure. For a family seeking a very small rural elementary school grounded in an agriculture-based community with a stable, if shrinking, population, Highwood School fits that description.
See more original research from School Decision →