Middle Schools in Circle Elementary

The Circle Elementary school district in Montana is home to two middle schools: Redwater 7-8 and Redwater School. Based on the available data, Redwater School appears to be the standout middle school in the district, consistently outperforming Redwater 7-8 and the overall Circle Elementary district in student proficiency for mathematics and reading.

In the 2022-2023 school year, Redwater School had 72.73% of students proficient or better in mathematics, compared to 60.49% for the Circle Elementary district and 36.59% statewide. Similarly, in reading, Redwater School had 66.67% of students proficient or better, compared to 56.79% for the district and 46.03% statewide. Additionally, Redwater School has a lower student-teacher ratio of 8.1, compared to 13.7 at Redwater 7-8, which may contribute to its stronger academic performance.

While Redwater 7-8 has seen fluctuations in its state ranking and rating, going from a high of 32nd out of 200 middle schools in 2020-2021 to a lower ranking of 98th out of 190 in 2021-2022, before improving to 55th out of 187 in 2022-2023, Redwater School has consistently outperformed its counterpart. The racial makeup of both schools is relatively homogeneous, with over 95% of students being White. The spending per student is the same for both schools, suggesting that factors other than funding, such as teaching quality, curriculum, and school leadership, may be contributing to the performance differences between the two schools.