The top reported proficiency rate is 14% in Science. The lowest is 8% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Belfonte Public School
Belfonte Public School is a small rural school in Sequoyah County, serving students from prekindergarten through eighth grade. It sits on State Highway 101 near Muldrow, a low-density town of about that size whose economy has historically rested on agriculture, ranching, and a poultry-processing plant. The school is the only building in its own district, Belfonte Public School District, and draws its enrollment from the surrounding countryside rather than from within the Muldrow town limits proper.
The student body is very small, roughly three dozen to four dozen children across ten grade levels from PK through eighth grade. Demographically, the school is predominantly white, with a substantial share of American Indian students and a notable number of students identifying as two or more races; Asian and Hispanic students each make up a very small slice of the population. Free or reduced-price lunch data was not reported, and information on students with disabilities or English learners was also absent from the available records, so a parent would need to ask the school directly about those supports.
Academically, the picture is a challenging one. Oklahoma’s state assessments for the 2024-25 school year returned proficiency rates that were very low in the grades where results could be reported without suppression. In third-grade math, about one in every dozen or so students scored at the proficient level. In fifth-grade reading and science and in eighth-grade science, the share was similarly thin. Many grade-level results were suppressed entirely because the tested group was too small to report, which is common in a school this size. The overall proficiency index, which averages the reported rates across tested subjects and grades, landed Belfonte in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Sequoyah County. That is a soft spot a parent would want to investigate further with the school, especially because the school does not serve high school and has no graduation rate to consider as a counterweight.
Community and housing context in the area is modest. Home values in the zip code are a bit below the state average and well below the national benchmark, reflecting the rural, low-cost character of the region. The town of Muldrow itself has some civic anchors, including a city park with a walking trail and a splash pad, and a small lake for fishing, but there is no public library or transit system identified in available sources. Population growth has been uneven, with a decline in the 2020 census and modest renewed growth since.
The district brief turned up no recent changes of lasting parent relevance, and the school’s program offerings were not listed. That gap may simply reflect the scale of the school, a PK-8 building where typical offerings like advanced coursework or career pathways do not apply. A parent considering Belfonte would want to ask about enrichment opportunities, extracurriculars, and how the school supports students who are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks, especially given the low assessment results that are publicly reported. For a family that values a very small, rural setting with a direct connection to teachers and staff, this might be a fit—but the academic data gives a clear signal to look closely before enrolling.
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