The top reported proficiency rate is 37% in English language arts. The lowest is 32% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Ramsay Middle School
Ramsay Middle School sits within the Ramsay Consolidated School on the west side of a village that was built in the early twentieth century as a company town for a DuPont dynamite plant. The school serves grades six through eight and is the only middle-grade option in the Ramsay Elem district, which covers this small, stable residential community roughly a short drive west of Butte. The village itself has seen very little change since its original construction—no commercial district, a grid of four streets lined with roughly a few dozen homes, a park with a skating rink, a post office, and the school as the civic anchor. Families who live here commute to Butte for work, goods, and services.
The student body is small and overwhelmingly white, with a modest share of Hispanic students and a very small number of students identifying as two or more races. More than half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a rate that is relatively high and reflects the economic profile of the community. The school does not report data on students with individualized education programs or English learners, so a parent should ask the school directly about how those populations are served if that is a concern.
On the state assessments administered in the most recent school year, proficiency rates were below those seen in most other districts in Silver Bow County. In math, roughly three in ten students scored at the proficient level or above, and in English language arts, roughly four in ten did. The proportion of students meeting the bar in both subjects was lower than the district average for the county. The science results for the small number of tested students were suppressed for privacy reasons, so no reliable read is available on that subject. A parent considering this school will want to talk with the administration about academic support, particularly in math, and ask how the school addresses the gap between its performance and that of nearby districts.
The school is physically integrated into the residential grid of the village, with a large open park area to the north and a park with a warming shelter used as a skating rink to the south. There is no separate campus feel; the school is a neighborhood building within walking distance of the homes. The surrounding streets have sidewalks, streetlights, and rear alleys as part of the original design, so it is a walkable setting for those who live in the village. But there is no commercial zone and no public transit to speak of, so anything beyond the village requires a vehicle.
Because the district serves only this one school and this one community, there are no other middle school options within the district boundary. No recent changes or initiatives were publicly reported for the district. A parent looking into Ramsay Middle School will likely be drawn by the small size, the tight-knit community setting, and the historic character of the village. But the academic data gives reason to look more closely at how instruction and intervention are structured, especially in math, and to ask what the school’s long-term plan is for improving proficiency.
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