The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Malta High School
Malta High School is the sole high school in the Malta K-12 Schools district, serving ninth through twelfth grade in a small, rural town on Montana’s High Plains. The school is small, with an enrollment that reflects the size of the community it serves. The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial American Indian/Alaska Native population and smaller shares of students identifying as two or more races or Hispanic. Slightly less than half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure of the economic context families bring to the school.
Because the school serves only high school grades, the state testing data available in this profile covers the grades three through eight assessments, which do not apply here. A parent looking for broad academic performance results from state tests will not find them for this school in the typical way, as the high school level in Montana uses different assessments that were not included in the data we reviewed. You would want to ask the school directly about its students’ performance on the ACT or other high school measures the state uses.
The school places in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Phillips County on the overall proficiency index, which here is drawn from the limited testing data that was reported. With only a small number of districts in the county for comparison, this position should be read with caution. It tells you that among the handful of neighboring districts, the available performance measures are weaker, but the picture is incomplete.
The graduation rate is not reported in the data we have. This is a significant gap for evaluating a high school, and a parent should ask the district for the most recent four-year graduation rate and any trend information. Chronic absenteeism data is also missing. Without these metrics, it is harder to assess how well the school supports students through to completion.
Malta itself is a shrinking community. The population has declined over the past decade, and housing vacancy rates are notable. The median household income is below the state average, and a measurable share of the population lives below the poverty line. The town is geographically compact and car-dependent, with a small downtown core. Major employers are not clearly named in publicly available sources, but county and city government, the school district, and area museums are institutional presences. The economy is agricultural. The town has civic anchors such as the Carnegie Library, the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum, and an Amtrak station, but there is no sign of new housing development or growth projects.
The district itself reported no recent parent-relevant changes in the sources we could find. That may reflect a period of stability or simply that the available public information was thin.
For a family considering this school, the strengths are its small size, which can allow for close relationships between students and staff, and its role as the centerpiece of a tight-knit community. The challenges are the incomplete academic picture, the absence of key outcome data like the graduation rate, and the broader economic context of a town that is losing population. A parent would want a direct conversation with the principal or counselor about college and career pathways, dual-credit opportunities, and what supports are in place to ensure students finish high school ready for what comes next.
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