The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Opheim High School
Opheim High School serves grades 9 through 12 as part of the Opheim K-12 Schools district, and with a total enrollment of eight students it is among the smallest high schools in Montana. The student body is predominantly white, with a small number of American Indian or Alaska Native and Asian students. The school sits in the town of Opheim, a farming community of roughly 75 people on the northern Montana prairie, about ten miles south of the Canadian border. The town has experienced a long, slow economic decline since the closure of a nearby Air Force station decades ago, and the school itself is the most visible civic institution still standing.
State testing data for math, English language arts, and science is reported only for grades 3 through 8 from the source used here, and those assessments do not apply to a high school. As a result, there is no state assessment profile available for Opheim High School at the high school level from this data. The graduation rate is not recorded in the available information, and chronic absenteeism data is also absent. A comparison of overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades, based on the elementary and middle school assessments from the district, places the district in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Valley County, but only two districts had sufficient data for that comparison, and the measure does not reflect high school achievement. Families evaluating academic outcomes will need to seek that information directly from the school or the district.
The district brief turned up no recent referendums, curriculum changes, tax shifts, or other parent-relevant developments publicly reported. The district itself is very small, serving roughly 35 to 40 students across all grades from kindergarten through high school, and the high school component is concentrated in that tiny enrollment of eight.
Given the school’s size, students here almost certainly experience a highly individualized learning environment. Classes are small, relationships between students and staff are close, and the school day likely allows for substantial one-on-one attention. The peer group is very small, which may appeal to families who want a tight-knit rural school where everyone knows everyone. The community is agricultural and economically stressed, with no major employers remaining in town; the local school and a nearby border crossing are among the few institutional employers. The nearest larger town, Glasgow, is roughly fifty miles south, and amenities like shopping, dining, and healthcare are limited in the immediate area. Housing is relatively affordable; home values in the area are well below the Montana state average, reflecting the region’s modest economy and population decline.
A parent considering Opheim High School should be prepared for a setting where the school is the center of town life and the community is small enough that the high school and the elementary school share the same building. Academic offerings may be limited by the small staff, and extracurricular or athletic opportunities will depend on the district’s ability to field teams or offer programs across such a tiny student population. Dual enrollment through a community college or online courses may supplement the curriculum, but that information is not available in the data reviewed here. Direct inquiry with the school about course offerings, graduation requirements, college readiness support, and post-graduation outcomes would be essential to fill the gaps in the publicly reported information. The school’s long heritage, including a Norwegian-American identity reflected in the Vikings mascot, is part of the local character, but the practical picture is one of a very small rural high school in a place that has been losing population for decades.
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