Original Research by School Decision on J Nelson Kelly Elementary School
J Nelson Kelly Elementary School sits on Cherry Street in Grand Forks, a city shaped by the University of North Dakota at its core and the Red River winding through its downtown. Grand Forks is the third-largest city in North Dakota and the seat of Grand Forks County, with an economy spanning higher education, defense, health care, manufacturing, and food processing. The University of North Dakota is the largest employer in the metropolitan area, and Altru Health System is the largest private employer. Grand Forks Air Force Base sits just west of the city and employs a large civilian workforce alongside military personnel. The terrain is famously flat, with the Red River and English Coulee providing the main natural features, and the Greater Grand Forks Greenway, a large linear park created from the floodplain after a devastating flood, offers recreation space on both sides of the river. The city has grown steadily since that flood, surpassing its pre-flood population and taxable sales. Cultural and event venues include the Alerus Center, Ralph Engelstad Arena, Empire Arts Center, and Chester Fritz Auditorium. Postwar suburbanization pushed residential and commercial development southward, where enclosed shopping malls were built.
Kelly Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school within the Grand Forks 1 school district. Its enrollment is moderate for an elementary building, with a fairly even distribution across the grade levels. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic, multiracial, Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Asian students. A relatively small proportion of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals compared with many schools, which aligns with the broader Grand Forks housing market where home values sit above the state benchmark but remain below national levels, and rents are quite affordable relative to income.
On the most recent North Dakota state assessment, the ND A-PLUS, Kelly's results paint a generally strong academic picture. In math, the share of students meeting proficiency grows steadily from third grade through fifth grade, moving from a narrow majority in third grade to a strong majority by fifth grade. English language arts follows a similar upward arc, starting around the midpoint in third grade and climbing to a solid majority by fifth grade. Science, assessed in fourth grade, shows a solid majority of students proficient. Across subjects, the school's summary proficiency sits above the halfway mark, with math and science coming in a notch above English language arts. Participation rates were strong across nearly all grades and subjects. One area a parent may want to look into further is third-grade English language arts, where participation dipped slightly below the other grades and proficiency was the weakest of the reported measures.
A note on the assessment data: North Dakota changed its assessment name and cut scores for this testing cycle, so trend comparisons to prior years are not yet reliable. The state has flagged that the results are not safe to compare against previous years. This means the current year's proficiency rates stand on their own, and families should treat them as a baseline under the new assessment rather than a continuation of an existing trend. No prior-year proficiency trend is available for that reason.
The Grand Forks 1 district has seen some parent-relevant developments. A new Nathan Twining Elementary and Middle School is in the planning and design phases at Grand Forks Air Force Base, funded through increased federal Impact Aid revenue. The district is one of a small group of schools on military installations nationally that may gain access to federal construction dollars for this project. Voters have also passed a referendum supporting public education, enabling construction, facility improvements, and security upgrades, with projects reported as coming in under budget.
Several data points that would help round out the picture of Kelly Elementary were not available. The school's Title I status, locale classification, discipline data, course access information, staffing ratios, and attendance figures were all absent from the available sources. Special population data, including individualized education program rates and English learner rates, were also missing. No graduation rate applies here because the school does not serve high school grades. Civil rights data and a neighbor comparison were not provided. Families considering Kelly Elementary would benefit from asking the school directly about student support services, staffing levels, and any specialized programs, since those pieces of the picture are not reflected in the available data.
The housing market in the school's zip code shows home values above the state benchmark but below national levels, with recent year-over-year appreciation outpacing both state and national rates. Rents remain affordable relative to local incomes. The price-to-income ratio sits at a moderate level nationally, and monthly rent comes in below the estimated monthly mortgage cost, which may factor into a family's decision about buying versus renting in the attendance area.
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