Original Research by School Decision on Grimsrud Elementary School
Grimsrud Elementary sits on Bismarck's west side, serving kindergarten through fifth grade as part of Bismarck Public School District 1, the largest district in North Dakota. The school is small for its grade band, with roughly two dozen to three dozen students per grade level. The enrollment is diverse for the region: a white majority but with representation across American Indian, Black, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Asian, and multiracial students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
State assessment results from the most recent year are available, though they come with an important caveat. North Dakota introduced a new assessment, the ND A-PLUS, with changed proficiency cut scores, so results are not directly comparable to prior years and no trend analysis is possible. Across the tested grades, proficiency patterns are mixed. Third-grade math and fifth-grade math both fell in a low range. Fourth-grade math landed in a moderate range, closer to the middle of the scale. English language arts followed a similar arc, with third and fifth grade in a lower band and fourth grade reaching a moderate level. Fourth-grade science was the strongest result, landing in a moderate range. Participation was solid across all tested grades. These results suggest that some grades are performing better than others, but with only one year under a new assessment, the picture is still forming. A parent may want to ask the school how it is responding to the lower results in the earliest and latest tested grades.
We looked for data on special populations, including students with individualized education programs and English learners, but those figures were not reported. The same was true for staffing, attendance, discipline, and course access, where no data was available. Without these pieces, it is hard to say how the school is resourcing its classrooms or supporting students who need extra help.
Bismarck itself is a growing state capital and regional hub for government, healthcare, and retail in south-central North Dakota. The downtown core has a compact historic district with small stores and restaurants, and Kirkwood Mall sits in the city center rather than out in the suburbs. Two major hospital systems, CHI St. Alexius and Sanford Health, are downtown, and the North Dakota State Capitol complex sits just north of it. The Missouri River forms the city's western edge. Beyond the core, the built environment is more auto-oriented, with Interstate 94 running through and shaping the layout. The city has been growing steadily, and that growth is reflected in the schools.
The district has been investing in facilities. A bond referendum passed in 2020 funded new construction and improvements across the district, and Roosevelt Elementary was rebuilt and opened in fall 2024. The district continues to grow, which drives decisions about class sizes, capacity, and staffing. Grimsrud itself was not named in the specific facility projects we found, but it operates within a district actively managing enrollment pressure.
The housing market in Grimsrud's zip code is moderately priced relative to national figures, with typical home values above the state benchmark but well below the national one. Rents have been rising at a faster clip than home values recently. Mortgage costs currently exceed typical rent for the area, which may factor into families' decisions about whether to buy or rent in the neighborhood.
Taken together, Grimsrud is a small, diverse elementary school in a growing capital city, with assessment results that are uneven across grades and still settling under a new testing system. The district around it is large, well-funded through recent bonds, and actively expanding. Families considering Grimsrud would benefit from asking school leaders about how they support the grades where proficiency is currently lower, and how the school's small size shapes the classroom experience.
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