Original Research by School Decision on Midway Elementary School
Midway Elementary School sits in Inkster, a tiny rural crossroads community in Grand Forks County, North Dakota. The town itself is overwhelmingly residential, with little more than a post office and widely spaced homes. There is no commercial district to speak of, and residents who need shopping or services make the drive to Grand Forks, roughly a half hour to the southeast. The area around Inkster is quiet farm country, and Turtle River State Park, a short drive to the south, offers the nearest outdoor recreation. Inkster has seen steady population decline over many decades, and no new housing or development projects were identified in publicly reported sources. The community skews older, and the housing stock is small and aging.
The school serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade and is part of the Midway 128 district. Enrollment is small, as one would expect for a school drawing from a community of this size, with students spread fairly evenly across the grade levels. The student body is predominantly white, with a meaningful Hispanic presence and a small number of American Indian or Alaska Native students and students of two or more races. A moderate share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school does not report English learner or special education figures, so a parent looking into those supports would want to ask the school directly.
On the academic side, the most recent state assessment results come from the first year of North Dakota's new A-PLUS assessment. Because the test itself and the proficiency cut scores changed this year, the results are not directly comparable to prior years, so trend information is not available. Reported proficiency is given in ranges rather than precise figures, which is common for a school with small grade-level cohorts and reflects student privacy protections rather than any withholding of results.
Looking at those ranges, the picture is mixed but generally positive in the earlier and middle elementary grades. Third and fourth graders show a healthy share of students reaching proficiency in math, with fourth grade looking particularly strong. Fifth grade math dips, with a lower range that a parent may want to ask about. Seventh grade math looks strong again. In English language arts, fourth grade stands out as a bright spot, while fifth grade is the weakest across both subjects, sitting in a lower range. Seventh grade ELA recovers to a solid level. Science was tested only in fourth grade, and the proficiency range there was on the lower side, which a parent may want to look into further with the school.
Overall proficiency rates across all tested grades sit near the middle of the pack in ELA and math, with science trailing behind. For a small rural school drawing from a community with limited resources and a declining population, maintaining steady academic performance is a reasonable outcome. The school's smaller class sizes likely give teachers the chance to know each student well, though the data does not include staffing ratios or class-size figures to confirm that.
Because Midway Elementary ends at eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report and no high school course offerings, AP, or dual-credit information. Students presumably transition to a high school elsewhere in the region for ninth grade, though the data does not specify which one. The district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes such as curriculum shifts, referendums, or facility projects, and no strategic priorities were identified.
For a family living in or near Inkster, Midway Elementary offers a small, community-rooted education through middle school with decent academic results in most grades, a homogeneous peer environment reflecting the surrounding rural area, and the intimacy that comes with a small enrollment. The trade-offs are limited program offerings, the need to transition to another school for high school, and a town with virtually no amenities or growth on the horizon. A parent weighing this school would benefit from visiting, asking about fifth-grade performance, science instruction, and the high school transition pathway.
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