The top reported proficiency rate is 56% in English language arts. The lowest is 49% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Garfield School
Garfield School is one of three elementary buildings in the Lewistown Elem district and serves the youngest students in the system, preschool through first grade. Because it covers only the earliest grades, the state testing results on file are from a single year and must be understood in that context. In the 2015-16 school year, students in grades three through eight across the district took the Smarter Balanced assessments; Garfield’s results in that window are for a grades three through eight group, but the school itself does not serve those upper grades. A reader should not interpret those scores as representing Garfield’s current students, most of whom are in kindergarten and first grade. The school enrollment is small, with a large kindergarten cohort, a sizable first-grade group, and a smaller prekindergarten program.
The student body is predominantly white, with a small Hispanic population and a modest share of students identifying as two or more races. Just over half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a rate that reflects the economic circumstances of many families in the area. Information on students with disabilities and English learners was not available, so a parent who needs those details should ask the school directly. The school is not a charter and its Title I status was not reported.
Lewistown is the county seat of Fergus County and sits at the geographic center of Montana. It is a small regional hub with a historic Main Street, a public library, nine parks, and a trail network along Big Spring Creek. The town hosts annual community events such as the Chokecherry Festival and the Cowboy Poetry Gathering. The housing market shows a typical home value below the state benchmark but above the national one; that local number has been rising in the past year. The town has the feel of a supply center for surrounding rural areas, with a grid layout and a downtown organization that suggests an active civic core. No information was found on specific major employers or recent development plans, though the school district and local government are likely significant presences.
No recent parent-relevant changes were reported for the Lewistown Elem district, meaning no bond measures, boundary shifts, or program overhauls surfaced in available public records. A parent considering this school should evaluate it as an early-primary entry point where children begin their schooling before moving on to other district elementary buildings for the later grades. The most relevant data for a family is the school’s size, its grade span, and the demographic and economic context of the community. Academic proficiency comparisons do not apply in a meaningful way because the school’s students are not in the tested grades. The district itself sits within a county where, compared to other districts in Fergus County, the overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grades places Garfield School in the top quartile of the small number of entities with reported data. That comparison is thin—only a couple of entities had results to compare—and again does not reflect Garfield’s own early-grade instruction.
For a family looking at Lewistown, Garfield School offers a contained early-learning environment in a small city with a walkable downtown, outdoor amenities, and a stable district. The key open question is what happens after first grade, since this school feeds into other elementary buildings in the district. A parent may want to ask the school or district about the pathway from Garfield through the upper elementary grades, and about special education and English learner services if those are a concern. The school’s own website did not provide additional programming details in the available data.
See more original research from School Decision →