The top reported proficiency rate is 71% in Math. The lowest is 22% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Barnsdall Es
Barnsdall Elementary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in the small Osage County town of Barnsdall, Oklahoma. The school is part of the Barnsdall district, which encompasses the town’s public schools. The community itself traces its roots to the early oil boom—originally named Bigheart and later renamed for an oil company executive—and today brands itself as a “Little Town with a Big Heart.” Barnsdall’s population has been declining for decades, and in 2024 the town was hit by two tornadoes, including an EF4 that caused fatalities, destroyed homes, and severely damaged the NuCera Solutions wax and polymers plant, the town’s largest employer. That plant subsequently announced a permanent closure, a significant economic blow. The district, for its part, has also dealt with a 2023 tornado that damaged school buildings and led to FEMA assistance for debris removal and rebuilding.
The elementary school’s enrollment is modest for an elementary school, and its student body is roughly evenly split between white students and American Indian or Alaska Native students, with a small share of Hispanic students and a handful of Black students. No data on the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals were available, nor on the number of students with disabilities or English learners, so a parent would want to ask the school directly about those supports.
Barnsdall Elementary participates in Oklahoma’s state testing program, the OSTP, for grades three through five. The most recent results show a notable split by subject. In mathematics, fourth graders achieved a proficiency rate comfortably above what many schools in the state see, while results for third and fifth graders were suppressed due to small testing groups and are not publicly reported. In English language arts, performance was considerably softer: about one in six third graders scored at the proficient level or above, roughly one in four fourth graders, and about one in four fifth graders. In fifth-grade science, proficiency was somewhat higher, with more than a third of students meeting the bar. Because Oklahoma changed its cut scores for math and English language arts in recent years, the district advises that comparisons to prior years are not straightforward. Overall, when combining tested subjects and grades into a single proficiency index, Barnsdall Elementary landed in the top quartile among districts in Osage County, a measure that benefits from the strong fourth-grade math performance and keeps the school above the county median.
No data on chronic absenteeism or discipline were available, and because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report. The school is not a charter or magnet school, and its Title I status was not provided. Programs beyond the core curriculum were also not listed.
Barnsdall Elementary sits in a compact town where schools and civic life are interwoven; during the 2024 tornado, school buildings were used as emergency shelters. The area offers nearby lakes for recreation and a rail trail on a former railroad right-of-way, but street life is limited. Housing in the town is more affordable than the national average, and the local economy has taken a heavy hit from the plant closure.
For a family considering this school, the picture is one of a small, community-rooted elementary that does well in math for at least one grade and less well in reading, set in a town facing population decline and recent economic upheaval. A parent may want to follow up with the school about the suppressed test results for several grades, the school’s approach to early literacy, and what support services are available for a student body that appears to be about half Native American. The district’s recent facility rebuilding after the tornado is a practical consideration for anyone looking at the physical condition of the school.
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