The top reported proficiency rate is 53% in English language arts. The lowest is 25% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Troy 7-8
Troy 7-8 serves just the seventh and eighth grades in a very small rural school in the town of Troy, Montana, a community wedged into the Kootenai River gorge between the Purcell and Cabinet Mountains. The town itself is one of the smallest in the state, with a history tied to mining and logging, a compact downtown along U.S. Route 2, and a strong outdoor recreation culture centered on the river and surrounding national forest. The school building is shared with the high school, and the combined campus sits within town limits.
Academically, Troy 7-8 presents a mixed picture when viewed against state benchmarks, but it stands out within its own regional context. On the Smarter Balanced assessments in the most recent school year, a little more than half of students met or exceeded state standards in English language arts. In math, the share was just under half. In science, assessed by the Montana Science Assessment, a smaller portion of students reached proficiency, though the number of tested students was smaller as well. These are modest absolute results, but they look stronger when placed beside other schools in Lincoln County: the school’s overall proficiency index across tested subjects fell in the top quartile relative to the cohort of county schools. The comparison set is small, so that position says less about statewide standing than about being a reasonably solid performer in a region where many schools face similar challenges.
The student body is very small, with about fifty students across two grades, and is almost entirely white, with a small Hispanic share and even fewer students identifying as two or more races. Every student at the school qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, signaling a high level of economic need across the community. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available, and the school does not report chronic absenteeism or disciplinary statistics in the public record. A parent may want to ask the school directly about support services and the classroom climate.
The town’s housing market is relatively affordable compared to the state median, though home values have been roughly flat in recent years. The local economy is thin, with mining, education, retail, and tourism providing most jobs, and the community has experienced population decline following the closure of the Troy mine and a long-running EPA cleanup of nearby asbestos contamination. No significant new housing developments or school district changes were reported in publicly available sources, so the setting feels stable but not growing.
Because Troy 7-8 is a combined middle school and high school campus, students move seamlessly from seventh grade into high school within the same building. The school does not publish information about elective programs, advanced coursework, or career pathways, so families should contact the school to learn about offerings beyond the core academic subjects. For a family seeking a very small school environment in a tight-knit, economically modest rural town, with academic results that are decent in the local context, Troy 7-8 fits that profile. Parents who value broader program variety or a more urban peer setting would find this a limited match.
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