The top reported proficiency rate is 82% in Science. The lowest is 57% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Jordan Elementary School
Jordan Elementary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in the small, remote ranching town of Jordan, Montana, which is the county seat of Garfield County. The school sits in a community often described as retaining an Old West flavor, functioning primarily as a service center for surrounding ranches and for the dinosaur paleontology community drawn to the nearby Hell Creek Formation. The town is frequently characterized as the most remote county seat in the contiguous United States, with limited services and extreme weather. The school’s enrollment is small, and the student body is composed overwhelmingly of white students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Academically, Jordan Elementary posted mixed proficiency results on the state’s Smarter Balanced assessments. In math and English language arts, the share of students meeting the proficient-or-above threshold was squarely in the moderate range, meaning roughly half of test-takers scored at that level. A parent may want to discuss with the school how the curriculum and support structures address the range of student performance these results suggest. Science results were notably stronger, with a high share of tested students scoring proficient or above, though the tested group was small and limited to specific grades. State testing data for other subject areas was not available, and no multi-year trend data was provided to show whether these results reflect a stable pattern.
The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Data on special education identification, English learner services, and chronic absenteeism were all absent from the profile. A parent may want to ask the school directly about student support services and attendance patterns.
Given the town’s isolation and long-term population decline, this is a school that fits families who are already rooted in the local ranching economy or who work in the area’s paleontology and tourism sectors. The housing market is well below national benchmarks, making it more affordable than much of the country, though the remote location and limited commercial services mean that daily life requires significant travel for many goods and amenities. The school building and local civic anchors like the library and museum are co-located in the town’s compact footprint, so students can walk to many community resources.
There was no district-level brief information available about recent referenda, bonds, or levies for the Jordan Elementary district, so a reader considering a move should plan to contact the district office for clarity on current budgets, facility conditions, and any upcoming votes. The school’s comparison with other districts in Garfield County could not be calculated because the cohort was too small to yield meaningful results.
In short, Jordan Elementary is a small, rural elementary school serving a community defined by ranching, remoteness, and dinosaur paleontology. Its proficiency picture is moderate in core subjects and stronger in science, with many data points left for a prospective family to investigate further with the school itself.
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