Original Research by School Decision on Custer Elementary School
Custer Elementary sits on the northeast side of Mandan, a city that straddles the Missouri River directly across from Bismarck. Mandan began life as a Northern Pacific Railroad stop and agricultural hub, and over the decades it has broadened into food processing, petroleum refining, power generation, software development, and manufacturing. A Marathon Petroleum refinery operates north of town, BNSF Railway maintains a division headquarters and major maintenance facility, and a federal agricultural research station sits just south of the city. State and federal correctional institutions border the community as well. The downtown Main Street corridor anchors civic life with summer concerts in Dykshoorn Park, a classic car show, a rodeo parade, and newer Night Markets. The city maintains an extensive trail system and numerous parks, though the spread-out footprint and highway corridors make daily life largely car-dependent. Schools in the Mandan Public School District sit on separate campuses distributed across the city rather than clustered downtown.
Custer is a regular public school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, with a small enrollment for its grade band. The student body is predominantly white, with representation from American Indian and Alaska Native, Hispanic, Black, Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, and multiracial students. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school firmly in the category of serving a high-need population. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not available, so those populations could not be characterized here.
On state assessments, Custer's results paint a mixed picture across grade levels. North Dakota administered the ND A-PLUS assessment in the most recent school year, and the state changed both the assessment name and the proficiency cut scores, which means results from prior years are not directly comparable. Trend data is therefore unavailable, and this year stands as a baseline under the new system.
In the earlier tested grades, math proficiency landed in a moderate range, with third and fourth graders performing at similar levels. English language arts showed a wider spread in third grade, reaching into a higher band, but fourth grade settled lower. Science, tested only in fourth grade at this school, fell in a moderate range. The clearest pattern is a drop in fifth grade, where both math and English language arts proficiency fell substantially compared with the younger grades. Participation rates across all tested grades were solid, with most grades at or near full participation and the lowest still reaching a respectable level.
The school's overall proficiency summary, combining all tested grades, shows English language arts and math in the lower-moderate range, while science came in higher. A parent weighing these results may want to look into the fifth-grade slide directly with the school, since the data shows a consistent dip in both core subjects at that grade level compared with third and fourth. Whether this reflects a cohort effect, a curricular transition, or something else is not clear from the available data.
No information was available on school programs, course access, staffing ratios, discipline practices, attendance, or Title I status. The district-level brief turned up no recent referendums, bond issues, curriculum overhauls, or property tax shifts that would signal a major change for families. Civil rights data was also absent.
Housing in the surrounding area sits above the state benchmark for typical home values but below the national figure, and values have been rising at a healthy clip recently. Rents have climbed even faster. For families considering renting versus buying, renting remains meaningfully cheaper than carrying a mortgage at current rates, and the rent-to-income ratio stays well within affordable territory. The price-to-income ratio is moderate. The broader Bismarck-Mandan metro area is growing modestly, and Mandan has attracted national attention as a desirable place to live, which may continue to support housing demand.
Custer Elementary fits families looking for a small, neighborhood-scale public school in a community with a strong civic identity and a diversified regional economy. The academic results under the state's new assessment system are strongest in the younger grades and in science, with a clear soft spot in fifth grade that warrants a direct conversation with school staff. The high-need student population and the absence of program and staffing data mean a visit to the school would fill in important gaps before deciding.
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