Original Research by School Decision on Alexander Elementary School
Alexander Elementary School sits in a small prairie town along Highway 85 in McKenzie County, part of the Alexander 2 district. The school serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade as a regular public school, though the state assessment data reported for this school extends through eighth grade, which may reflect how the district accounts for students in those upper elementary and middle years. The town of Alexander grew from a trading post and sits nestled among several buttes, with a compact commercial strip along the highway and residential streets radiating outward. It is centrally located near Williston, Watford City, and Sidney, Montana. Civic life and school life are woven together here. The school recently completed a large addition with new classrooms, a gym, and other facilities, and those spaces are available for community use. The town's social calendar centers on events like Old Settler's Days over Labor Day weekend rather than everyday street commerce. Three churches, a park board, and the school itself serve as the primary gathering points.
The enrollment is small, as one would expect for a town of this size, with students spread fairly evenly across the early grades. The student body is predominantly white, with a small Hispanic presence and a handful of American Indian or Alaska Native and multiracial students. Just over a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a relatively modest share. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not reported, so those populations, if present, are not visible in the available information. No Title I status was indicated.
Academic results come from the ND A-PLUS assessment, which is a new state test with changed cut scores this year. Because the assessment itself changed, trend comparisons against prior years are not reliable, and the state flags this openly. With that caveat, the current results paint a mixed picture. In math, younger grades show moderate proficiency, with third and fourth graders landing in a middling band. Results trend lower as grades advance, with fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade ranges all falling below the midpoint. English language arts follows a similar pattern. Third, fourth, and fifth grade results sit in a moderate range, while sixth, seventh, and eighth grade bands dip into the lower portion of the scale. Science tells a somewhat different story. Fourth grade science landed in the upper range, and the overall science proficiency came in above half, making it the strongest subject for the school.
Participation rates were solid across most grades, with most sitting at the higher end, though a couple of grades dipped somewhat lower. Tested student counts were not reported, which is common for very small schools where reporting exact numbers could identify individual students.
Because this is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to report. No civil rights data, disciplinary information, staffing figures, course access details, or attendance data were available. The district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes beyond the school expansion already mentioned. No program offerings, magnet status, or charter designation apply. A neighbor comparison was not provided, so positioning against nearby schools is not possible from the available data.
The housing market in Alexander's zip code runs above the North Dakota state benchmark but below the national figure, and values have been appreciating at a healthy clip over the past year. Rental data was not available. The broader economic context is shaped by the region's energy industry, though the locale brief did not identify specific major employers beyond small local businesses such as cafes, repair shops, and a garage. Median household income at the national level has been rising steadily, and unemployment remains low.
For a family considering this school, the strengths are a tight-knit rural setting where the school functions as a community anchor, a recently expanded physical plant, and science results that outpace the school's own math and reading performance. The softer area is English language arts and math proficiency in the upper grades, which a parent may want to look into further with the school, particularly given that this is a new assessment and the school may still be calibrating to the changed standards. The absence of staffing, discipline, and program data limits a fuller picture, and the small enrollment means results can swing noticeably from year to year.
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