The reported proficiency rate for English language arts is 21%.
Original Research by School Decision on Clearfield Colony Elementary - 07
Clearfield Colony Elementary - 07 is a tiny kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school sitting in the rural community of Delmont, in southeastern Douglas County, South Dakota. It belongs to the Tripp-Delmont School District 33-5, a combined district shared with the nearby town of Tripp. The school's enrollment is very small, with only a handful of students spread across nine grade levels, and every student is identified as white. The name and setting point to a colony school, which in this part of South Dakota typically means a Hutterite agricultural community where children are educated close to home through eighth grade before returning to colony life.
Delmont itself is a shrinking rural town. Publicly reported sources describe it as a very small agricultural community that was historically a railroad trade center surrounded by farmland. The town was severely damaged by an EF2 tornado that destroyed homes and a century-old church on the western side, after which the mayor estimated that roughly half of residents would not return to rebuild. The population has been in long-term decline, and housing vacancy is high. Commercial activity is minimal, with Bluebird Locker, a local butchery known for its Delmont Sausage, standing out as one of the few identified businesses. Residents who need goods, services, or employment beyond what the town offers likely travel to nearby communities such as Armour, the county seat roughly ten miles northwest, or Wagner.
The academic picture at Clearfield Colony is limited by the school's size. State assessment results for the most recent year show that English language arts proficiency was reported, and the results sit at a low level relative to what most South Dakota schools post. Math and science proficiency rates were suppressed, which commonly happens when the number of tested students is too small to report publicly without risking student identification. With so few students per grade, this kind of suppression is expected and should not be read as an indicator of anything beyond small numbers. No multi-year trend data was available, so there is no way to characterize whether performance is improving, declining, or holding steady over time.
Information that would help a parent understand the school's support environment is largely absent. Free or reduced-price lunch data was not reported, nor were rates for students with individualized education programs or English learners. No data on discipline, course access, staffing ratios, or attendance was available. No civil-rights reporting data was provided. A parent looking into this school would want to ask the district directly about these areas, since the public data does not illuminate them.
Because the school serves only through eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. No program offerings were listed in the data, so it is not possible to describe what extracurricular, enrichment, or specialized academic options may exist beyond core instruction. No neighbor comparison set was available to position this school against nearby schools.
The Tripp-Delmont School District 33-5 appeared in a search for recent parent-relevant changes, but nothing of lasting impact was found, so there is nothing to report on that front.
What the data does convey is a school shaped by its community. A colony elementary in a declining rural town, serving a very small and homogeneous student body, with assessment results that are partly suppressed and partly low, and with substantial gaps in publicly available information about student support, staffing, and programs. For a family connected to the colony, this is the local school. For anyone else considering it from the outside, the first step would be a direct conversation with the district to fill in the pieces the public data does not cover.
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