The top reported proficiency rate is 50% in Math. The lowest is 30% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Shepherd Elementary
Shepherd Elementary sits in an unincorporated farming community northeast of Billings, serving children from prekindergarten through fifth grade. The school is part of the Shepherd Elementary District, and together with the Shepherd High School District it forms the spine of civic life in a place that has no traditional downtown. The community, named for an early irrigation-company owner, is car-dependent and rural, with residents commuting to Billings for work. The school building doubles as a central gathering point.
Enrollment is modest for an elementary school serving seven grade levels, with about that many students spread across PK through fifth. The student body is overwhelmingly white, with a small share of American Indian or Alaska Native students and very small numbers of students who identify as Black, Hispanic, or multiracial. Just over a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that places the school at a middle point economically for the area. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not provided, so a parent who wants to understand how the school supports those populations would need to ask the district directly.
On state assessments, Shepherd Elementary’s results show a mixed picture that aligns roughly with the middle of the field among Yellowstone County districts, when compared to other tested schools in the county. In math, about half of students in grades three through five scored proficient or above, which is above the midpoint for districts in the county. In English language arts, the share was lower, around two-fifths proficient. Science testing, which involves only one grade level, showed roughly three in ten students reaching the proficient mark. These are the results from a single year of the Smarter Balanced Assessment and the Montana Science Assessment. Because the school does not serve grades where graduation rates are reported, that figure is simply not applicable here.
Shepherd Elementary is not a charter school, and its Title I status was not reported. Information on staffing, discipline, chronic absenteeism, and course access was also absent from the available data. For a school this size, a parent looking into class sizes or specialist support would need to reach out to the school or district for those details. The district itself, according to what was found in public records, has not had any recent major changes that would affect a family’s decision.
The housing market in the Shepherd area, based on ZIP-code-level data, reflects a community that has seen home values rise in recent years but also shows signs of a cooling market. The median listing price in Yellowstone County, where Shepherd sits, edged down slightly year over year, while the number of new listings dropped and the median days a home sits on the market increased. The typical home in Shepherd’s ZIP code is valued substantially above the national median, and the area’s price-to-income ratio suggests affordability is a stretch for many buyers. The community itself has minimal rental stock, and the homeownership rate is nearly universal. This is a place where families are generally settled homeowners, and new families moving in will likely be buying rather than renting.
For a family weighing this school, the key contours are straightforward. Shepherd Elementary serves a small, rural community with a largely white student body and an economic profile that is middle-of-the-road for the county. Academic performance sits around the middle of district comparisons in Yellowstone County, with math a relative strength and ELA and science softer. The school provides the only elementary option within the district, serving as a neighborhood anchor in an area with no downtown or town government. Families who value a small, rural school with a farming-community context and a manageable daily commute from the Billings area will find a match here. Those looking for a wider range of academic programs, detailed data on student support populations, or a more urban setting will want to look further. The absence of certain civil-rights and staffing data means it is worth asking the school directly about class sizes, special education services, and English learner support before making a decision.
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