Original Research by School Decision on Lisbon Elementary School
Lisbon Elementary School serves the early grades in Lisbon, a small rural city that is the seat of Ransom County, North Dakota. The school sits within the Lisbon 19 district and covers prekindergarten through fourth grade. Because the school ends at grade four, there is no graduation rate to report, and the state assessment picture comes only from the tested grades within that band, third and fourth.
The most recent state results come from North Dakota's A-PLUS assessment. In math, third and fourth graders landed in a range that sits well above the middle of what most schools in the state post, a solid result for a school this size. Science results for fourth grade were also in a respectable range, landing around the midpoint. English language arts was softer, with proficiency in both tested grades landing below the middle of the state distribution. This is the kind of gap a parent may want to look into further with the school, especially given that the state changed both the assessment name and the cut scores this year, which means there is no clean trend line to show whether this is a one-year dip or a persistent pattern. The prior year's data does not carry over for comparison because of those changes.
Participation was strong across all tested subjects and grades, with nearly all students sitting for the exams. The state did not report tested counts or average scale scores for this school, so the proficiency ranges are the fullest academic picture available.
The student body is small and fairly homogeneous. The overwhelming majority of students are white, with a small Hispanic presence and a handful of students identifying as American Indian or Alaska Native, Black, or two or more races. A modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, lower than what many rural elementary schools see. The school did not report figures for special education enrollment or English learners, so those demographics are not available. Prekindergarten enrollment is minimal, with just a single student, while kindergarten through fourth grade make up the bulk of the population with fairly even distribution across those grades.
Lisbon itself is a compact community of a few square miles at the intersection of two state highways, with the Sheyenne River running through town. The downtown core along Main Street holds a historic opera house and the Scenic Theater, which is publicly reported to be the oldest continuously operating movie theater in the United States. Sandager Park sits along the river with camping and picnic areas. The town serves as the southern terminus of the Sheyenne River Valley National Scenic Byway and as a gateway to Fort Ransom State Park. The North Dakota Veterans Home is a major institutional presence and employer, with a large new facility under construction adjacent to the existing campus. County government and city offices provide additional public-sector employment. No comprehensive private-sector employer data was found.
The housing market here is affordable relative to both state and national benchmarks. Typical home values sit well below the North Dakota statewide figure and dramatically below the national figure, with a price-to-income ratio that looks favorable for buyers. Rental data was not available. The town's population is essentially flat to slightly declining, with projections showing further gentle contraction over the coming years. No major new housing subdivisions or commercial developments were identified.
The district brief returned no evidence of recent referendums, curriculum changes, or other parent-relevant shifts. That absence does not mean nothing is happening, only that nothing surfaced in the available search. Similarly, the school's locale classification, discipline data, course access details, staffing figures, and attendance records were not reported in the data provided. Programs offered beyond the standard elementary curriculum were not listed. A parent considering this school would want to ask directly about those areas.
What the available data does say is that Lisbon Elementary is a small, early-grades school in a quiet rural county seat, with math and science results that hold their own against state expectations and English language arts results that trail. The community is stable, affordable, and anchored by civic and cultural institutions that punch above their weight for a town of this size. Families drawn to small-town life along the Sheyenne River, with outdoor recreation close at hand and a compact downtown, will find a school that matches the scale of the place.
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