Original Research by School Decision on Lewis and Clark Elementary School
Lewis and Clark Elementary School sits on the west side of Williston, serving kindergarten through fourth grade as part of Williston Basin School District 7. It is a regular public school with a modest enrollment for its grade band, and its student body is predominantly white, with small Hispanic and multiracial populations rounding out the roster. A relatively small share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch compared with many schools serving similar grade ranges, which reflects something about the neighborhood it draws from more than anything about the school itself. The school does not carry a charter or magnet designation.
On state assessments, the picture is mixed and worth reading carefully. North Dakota switched to the ND A-PLUS assessment recently, and the proficiency cut scores changed, so the results stand as a new baseline rather than a continuation of prior trends. In third grade, roughly half of students reached proficiency in English language arts, and a somewhat smaller share did so in math. By fourth grade, proficiency dropped noticeably across all three tested subjects: math, English language arts, and science all landed in a lower range, with science and English language arts both sitting in the bottom portion of what the state reports. Participation was strong across the board. The year-over-year trend data confirms only a single year is available, so there is no established trajectory to lean on yet. A parent looking at these fourth-grade numbers may want to ask the school what is driving the dip between third and fourth grade, and whether the assessment transition is a factor.
Williston itself is a city transformed by the Bakken oil boom. The population nearly doubled over the past decade and a half, and while growth has begun to normalize, the city still carries the infrastructure and labor-market imprint of rapid expansion. Oil service companies dominate the local economy, with major employers like Baker Hughes maintaining large campuses in the area. Mercy Medical Center, Williston State College, and agricultural operations including a regional grain elevator and weekly livestock auctions round out the employment base. The city is car-oriented, with no fixed-route bus service, though Amtrak's Empire Builder stops once daily in each direction. US 2 runs through the city and US 85 bypasses it to the northwest. Housing in the school's zip code sits above the state benchmark and close to the national benchmark, with values having risen at a brisk pace over the past year. Rents are comparatively modest relative to local mortgage costs, which shapes the decision families face about buying versus renting.
The district has been in a period of structural change. In 2020, voters approved merging Williston Public School District 1 with Williams County School District 8, effective July 2021, creating the current Williston Basin School District 7. The district is also in the middle of a two-phase attendance boundary overhaul. Phase 1 established boundaries for Missouri Ridge Elementary in the 2023-2024 school year. Phase 2, which will set boundaries for all elementary schools, is planned for fall 2026, when a new elementary school called Sloulin Elementary opens. Families considering Lewis and Clark should know that the school their child attends today may not be the one assigned under the new boundaries, depending on where they live.
Civic life in Williston centers on institutions like the Williston Area Recreation Center, with its indoor water park and sports facilities, the James Memorial Art Center, and the Williston Public Library, which serves all of Williams County and runs a bookmobile for rural schools and retirement communities. Lake Sakakawea, Fort Union Trading Post, and the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park sit within reach for families who want weekend destinations.
What the data does not cover is worth naming. IEP and English learner counts were not reported, staffing data was absent, and no discipline, attendance, or course-access information was available. Title I status was not reported either. The school serves only early elementary grades, so there is no graduation rate or high school outcome to speak of, and the absence of those measures reflects the grade band, not a gap in performance. A family weighing Lewis and Clark would be looking at a school in a fast-growing, oil-driven community where district boundaries are still settling, where the most recent test scores show a clear drop between third and fourth grade, and where housing costs run high for the region. Asking the school directly about the fourth-grade proficiency pattern and about how the coming boundary changes will affect this campus would be a reasonable next step.
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