Original Research by School Decision on Surrey Elementary School
Surrey Elementary School sits in a small residential town roughly seven miles east of Minot, along Highway 2 in Ward County. The community bills itself as a place that retains a small-town feel even as it grows, and most working residents commute into Minot for employment. Local amenities are limited to a gas station, a few food spots, a senior center, a post office, parks, and a ball complex. The town is car-oriented with no public transit, though walking paths provide some recreational connectivity. This is the kind of place where the school functions as a civic anchor, woven into the community fabric rather than set apart on a separate campus.
The school serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade as a regular public school within Surrey 41, the local district. Enrollment is modest, distributed across the early and upper elementary grades, and the student body is predominantly white. A small share of students come from Hispanic, Black, multiracial, and American Indian backgrounds. The free and reduced-price lunch rate is low relative to many public schools, suggesting limited measured economic disadvantage among enrolled families. Data on individualized education programs and English learners was not available, so those student-support dimensions remain unassessed here.
Academic results come from North Dakota's A-PLUS assessment, which is newly introduced and carries changed cut scores across subjects. Because of those changes, trend comparability with prior years is limited, and the results should be read as a baseline rather than a continuation of an established pattern. In math, proficiency across tested grades lands in a middling band, with some grades performing stronger and others weaker. Grade five math stands out as the softest spot, while grade four sits at the higher end. English language arts shows a similar spread, with grade six reaching the school's strongest proficiency band and grade three also performing respectably. Science was tested in grade four, where results fell in a moderate range. Participation rates were solid across all tested grades.
The school's overall aggregate proficiency sits at a moderate level in all three subjects, with math slightly ahead of English language arts and science trailing both. No multi-year trend is available yet because the current assessment is in its first reported cycle. Parents reviewing these results should keep in mind that the proficiency bands reflect small grade-level cohorts, so year-to-year variation can be pronounced in a school of this size.
Because the school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. Civil rights data, disciplinary information, course access details, staffing figures, and attendance metrics were not available in the provided data, so those dimensions of the school environment could not be assessed. Title I status was also not reported. The district brief turned up little in the way of recent parent-relevant changes or strategic priorities, so that layer of context is thin here.
Housing in the Surrey zip code sits above the state benchmark and just below the national figure, with the typical home value reflecting a modest premium over much of North Dakota. The price-to-income ratio suggests that buying remains within reach for median-earning households compared with national norms, and estimated monthly mortgage costs are higher than local rents by a meaningful margin, which may shape decisions for families weighing ownership against renting. The broader mortgage environment carries rates in the mid-six percent range, consistent with national conditions.
For a family considering Surrey Elementary, the picture is of a small-town school in a growing commuter community with affordable housing, a close-knit peer environment, and moderate academic results during a transition to a new state assessment. The absence of program offerings, staffing data, and civil-rights reporting means a parent would want to ask the school directly about enrichment, support services, and classroom resources before drawing a fuller conclusion.
See more original research from School Decision →