The top reported proficiency rate is 51% in English language arts. The lowest is 32% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Ramsay School
Ramsay School sits in a community that is unlike any other in Silver Bow County. The village of Ramsay was built more than a century ago by the DuPont Company as a planned company town for workers at a dynamite plant that supplied explosives to Butte’s copper mines. The plant closed decades ago, and today Ramsay is a quiet residential settlement of roughly three dozen homes arranged on a grid of four streets. There is no downtown, no commercial strip, and no major employer beyond the school itself. Families commute to Butte, a short drive west on Interstate 90, for groceries, services, and jobs. The village retains its original character: wide streets, sidewalks, rear alleys, and a handful of original communal garages. A park with a warming shelter that doubles as an ice-skating rink sits at the south end of the village, and a large open park lies north of the school. The school building itself, on the west side of the residential grid, is a clear community anchor in a place that has seen very little physical change since its founding.
Ramsay School serves prekindergarten through fifth grade. Its enrollment is small. The student body is predominantly white, with small shares identifying as Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, or two or more races. A modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. A parent considering this school will find a close-knit, walkable environment where the school and the village are essentially coextensive.
State testing results, available for grades three through five, offer a mixed picture. In English language arts, roughly half of students met or exceeded the proficiency standard on the Smarter Balanced assessment. In science, about half of tested students reached the proficient level. In math, the proficiency rate is lower. Across all tested subjects, the school’s overall proficiency index lands in the top quartile when compared with the two Silver Bow County districts that had test data that year. That comparison set is small—only two districts reported—so the ranking is narrow. Still, within that local context, Ramsay School’s academic performance stands out on the stronger side.
Because this is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate, and no data on chronic absenteeism was available. The data we looked for on discipline, staffing, and program offerings came up empty; a parent who wants details on class sizes, special education supports, or enrichment activities would need to ask the school directly. The school is not a charter, not a magnet, and its Title I status is not reported. The district—Ramsay Elementary School District #3—did not have any recent parent-relevant changes on record, so the institutional picture is one of stability rather than flux.
For a family that values a small, historically rooted rural school with a tight connection to its immediate community, Ramsay School offers an intimate setting where the entire village feels like an extension of the school grounds. Academic results are uneven; English and science are relative bright spots, while math proficiency is an area a parent may want to explore further with the school. The comparison against other Silver Bow County districts suggests the school is performing well overall for its size and context, but the pool of comparison is thin. The broader trade-off is that Ramsay has no commercial services, no after-school infrastructure beyond what the school provides, and no nearby options for middle or high school—those are in Butte. A family choosing this school is choosing a particular kind of place, one that is quiet, stable, and deeply tied to its own history.
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