Original Research by School Decision on Belfield High School
Belfield High School sits in a small western North Dakota town at the junction of two major highways, a place shaped by oil-boom cycles and highway commerce. The school serves grades seven through twelve as a regular public school in the Belfield 13 district. Its enrollment is small even for a rural school, with each grade level holding roughly a couple of dozen students or fewer. The student body is predominantly white, with a small number of Native American and Hispanic students. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a moderate level for the region. Data on special education and English learner populations was not reported, so those figures are a gap a parent would need to ask the school about directly.
On state assessments from the most recent year, the academic picture is mixed in a way that stands out. English language arts proficiency is strong, with a substantial majority of students testing proficient. Science lands in a middling range, with roughly half of students proficient. Mathematics is the clear soft spot, with only a small share of students reaching proficiency. Only one year of data was available, so there is no trend to compare against. A parent considering this school would want to look into math instruction further with the school, asking how the curriculum and support are structured and whether intervention is in place for students who are behind.
No graduation rate was provided in the data. Because the school does serve high school grades, that absence is worth noting plainly rather than reading as a nonissue. The data sections did not include it, and no reason was given. No civil rights reporting, course access, staffing, attendance, or discipline data was available either, which leaves a parent with limited information on the school environment beyond what the assessment numbers and demographic profile show. Program offerings such as AP, dual credit, or career pathways were not listed. A family looking for a rich set of electives or advanced coursework should ask the district directly what is available, since the data does not confirm or rule it out.
The town of Belfield is part of the Dickinson micropolitan area and sits on the Heart River near Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It is a compact community with a traditional main street and civic functions clustered downtown. The school campus sits within a town small enough that distances between civic and educational facilities are inherently short. The local economy is tied closely to oil activity and highway-oriented businesses serving interstate traffic. No specific major employers were named in publicly reported sources beyond city government and the school district itself. The town has gone through boom-and-bust population swings tied to Bakken oil development, with a rebound during the oil boom followed by near-flat projections in coming years. Housing vacancy runs high, consistent with transient workforce patterns.
For housing, home values in the Belfield zip code sit below both the state and national benchmarks, though they have been appreciating at a brisk pace recently. Mortgage costs relative to income look manageable by national standards, and the area remains more affordable than much of the country. No rental data was available for the immediate area.
The district brief turned up no parent-relevant changes or recent initiatives. That search came back empty, so there is little to report about strategic direction or new programs. A family weighing this school is looking at a small, close-knit rural environment where the community's fortunes ride on the oil economy. The academic strength in English is real, and the science results are adequate. The math results are the area that demands attention. With thin data on programs, staffing, graduation, and school climate, much of what a parent would want to know will require a direct conversation with the school.
See more original research from School Decision →