Three Forks Elementary

The Three Forks Elementary School District in Montana consists of two schools: Three Forks Elementary School and Three Forks 7-8, a middle school. While the elementary school has a relatively homogeneous student population with 94.07% white students, the middle school is more diverse, with 89.25% white and 9.68% Hispanic students.

Academically, Three Forks Elementary School outperforms its middle school counterpart, ranking 151 out of 332 Montana elementary schools with a 3-star rating, compared to Three Forks 7-8, which ranks 160 out of 187 Montana middle schools with a 1-star rating. The elementary school also has a lower student-teacher ratio of 13.9, while the middle school has a ratio of 15.4.

Interestingly, both schools had the same per-student spending of $7,480 in 2018-2019, suggesting that factors beyond just funding may be contributing to the performance gap between the two schools. The Three Forks Elementary School District may want to investigate the reasons behind the declining performance at the middle school level and explore strategies to improve diversity and inclusion efforts at the elementary school.