The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Superior High School
Superior High School sits in a small rural town that is the county seat of Mineral County, surrounded by the Bitterroot Range and the Clark Fork valley. The school serves grades nine through twelve and is part of the Superior K-12 Schools district. The student body is small for a high school, and the community it draws from is quiet, outdoors-oriented, and historically rooted in mining, logging, and U.S. Forest Service work. Key employers in the area include the Forest Service, the school district, and a local hospital; the commercial strip is modest, catering mainly to residents and travelers on Interstate 90. The town has seen minimal population change over recent decades, and no major new housing developments or growth initiatives are documented in available sources, suggesting a stable but not expanding enrollment base.
Enrollment at the high school is small, with each grade level carrying a similar number of students, giving the school an intimate scale. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of students who are two or more races, Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. All students reported qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that a parent may want to verify with the school, as it typically signals a high level of economic need in the community. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available.
State testing results for the most recent school year showed a proficiency rate of zero percent in math, English language arts, and science for the tested grade span that covers high school. The national academic context places the school in the bottom quartile for overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades relative to other districts in Mineral County. This is a clear soft spot. How reliable these results are and what they mean for individual students is something a parent would want to discuss directly with the school, particularly since the tested grade band covers grades three through eight, which is not the high school’s own grade range. The data does not make clear which students at Superior High School took these assessments or why the proficiency rate was reported at zero.
The school does not have a publicly reported graduation rate, which is uncommon for a high school. This may be due to the way the state reports data for small schools, or it may reflect a data gap that the school could clarify for a prospective family. Chronic absenteeism data was also missing.
Housing in the area carries a value that sits below the state benchmark for Montana. The typical monthly mortgage payment on a home at the local median price would be substantial relative to what many households in the area earn, and affordability is a real consideration. The local unemployment rate and median household income figures follow national trends and do not appear to be outliers.
No recent district-level changes such as boundary shifts, curriculum overhauls, or tax measures were found in publicly available sources. The school has not been marked with a charter or magnet designation. Programs, course access, and staffing details were not provided.
Superior High School is a small, rural school in a stable but economically modest community. The state testing picture is weak and contains a peculiar data gap that warrants a direct conversation with the school. The lack of a graduation rate is another missing piece that makes it difficult to gauge student outcomes in a conventional way. For a family considering this school, the immediate steps would be to ask the principal or district office how many students took state assessments, what the school’s graduation rate is, and what academic pathways are available beyond the core curriculum. The setting is quiet, the peer group is small, and the town’s economic base is narrow, all of which are characteristics some families prefer and others would want to weigh carefully.
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