The top reported proficiency rate is 60% in Math. The lowest is 40% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Hutterische Colony Elementary - 18
Hutterische Colony Elementary - 18 is a small, rural school serving kindergarten through eighth grade on a Hutterite colony near Tabor, South Dakota, within the Bon Homme School District 04-2. The school enrolls a tight-knit group of children across all nine grade levels, with every student identified as White. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is consistent with the communal, agrarian economy of Hutterite colonies. The school is not a charter or magnet school. Because it serves only through eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report, and that absence reflects the grade band rather than any gap in the school's performance.
On state assessments, the school's math proficiency rate sits above the state midpoint, with a solid majority of tested students scoring proficient or above. English language arts results are lower, with fewer than half of tested students reaching proficiency. Full participation was reported for both subjects, which gives the results reliability despite the very small testing group. Science results were suppressed, likely owing to small enrollment in the tested grades, so no science proficiency picture is available. Average scale scores were not reported for any subject. A parent may want to look into the ELA results further with the school to understand how reading and writing instruction is structured across the combined grades. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these proficiency levels represent improvement, decline, or stability.
The school does not report data on staffing ratios, disciplinary incidents, attendance, course access, or special populations such as English learners or students with individualized education programs. These gaps mean a parent would need to contact the school directly for details about teacher qualifications, class sizes, support services, and how instruction is organized across the wide grade range in a single small setting.
Tabor itself is a tiny, primarily residential community in Bon Homme County with deep Czech Catholic roots. The town was founded by Czech settlers and named after a city in the Czech Republic, and that heritage remains visible in restored buildings along main street, a historic log schoolhouse, and St. Wenceslaus Church, the town's central institution. Street names carry Czech family references. The town is walkable by virtue of its small footprint, but commercial activity is minimal, and no parks, libraries, or public transit appear in available sources. South Dakota Highway 50 runs along the southern edge of town and provides road access. Population has been stable to slightly declining over recent decades, and no major housing developments or growth projects were mentioned in publicly reported sources. No employer information was found, which is consistent with the town's residential character and the likelihood that most working residents commute or farm.
Housing in the school's zip code is modest relative to both South Dakota and national benchmarks. Home values sit well below the state figure and further below the national figure, and the price-to-income ratio is low compared with the national level. Rental data was not available. For families considering a move into the area, housing costs would likely be manageable, though the limited market in such a small community could constrain options. The broader economic context includes a national unemployment rate that has held steady in a healthy range and a thirty-year mortgage rate that has fluctuated within a narrow band in recent months.
The parent district, Bon Homme School District 04-2, has publicly reported investments in career and technical education, including new classrooms with industry-standard facilities for students pursuing vocational pathways. A parent may want to ask how students from the colony school transition into the district's secondary programs and whether those CTE pathways are accessible to them as they move beyond eighth grade.
For a family connected to the Hutterite colony, this school is the local academic pathway for the early and middle grades, with math results that stand out positively and reading results that warrant attention. For anyone outside that community, the school's enrollment, culture, and setting are specific to colony life and would not function as a typical open-enrollment option. The available data, while thin in several areas, paints a picture of a very small, culturally distinct school in a quiet, heritage-rich rural community with affordable housing and limited commercial infrastructure.
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