Frontier Earns Excellent Report Card
Frontier School District performed exceptionally well in the most current Montana Every Students Succeeds Act’s report card.
“They are incredible,” Frontier’s superintendent Patrick Drapeau said of the school’s test scores. “It’s a great school community effort.”
The act requires each school district and state to release a school report card each year. The information includes details about the school’s environment, student demographics and academic performance. ESSA requires every state to measure performance in reading, math and science. Each state determines the way students are assessed. Every school in each state must inform parents about their standards and their results.
As a state, for the 20212022 school year, Montana recorded a proficient percentage of 21 percent for math, 29 percent for reading and 24 percent for science. Advanced scores were 14 percent for math, 17 percent for reading and 12 percent for science.
For math, Frontier’s seventh- eighth grade students had 14 percent proficient, 18 percent advanced and 32 percent at nearing proficient. The state averages are 21 percent proficient, 14 percent advanced and 30 percent at nearly proficient.
For reading, Frontier had an impressive 45 percent proficient, 27 percent advanced and 23 percent nearly proficient. The state averages are 29 percent proficient, 17 percent advanced and 24 nearly proficient.
In the category of science, Frontier had 56 percent proficient, 11 percent advanced and 33 percent nearly proficient compared to the state’s averages of 24 percent proficient, 12 percent advanced and 37 percent nearly proficient.
“Our scores are better than the state in reading and science, and math is right there,” Drapeau said. “Science is remarkable.”
Scores for Frontier’s k-6 grade students were also solid with 13 percent proficient and 15 percent advanced in math, 28 percent proficient and 19 percent advanced in reading and 12 percent proficient and 12 percent advanced in science.
Drapeau, in his first as Frontier’s superintendent, says he can’t take any credit for the success since the scores are for the 2021-2022 school year. He points to parental support, strong instruction leadership, high expectations, relevant learning experiences and a safe and orderly environment as positive factors.
“Mostly, it’s our parents that our stepping up and care about their children’s education,” Drapeau said.
He is optimistic about the education future of Frontier’s students. The school is working on a format where one-third is academics, onethird is community and onethird consists of personalized learning.
“What I’ve seeing so far is phenomenal,” Drapeau said. “But I’m not doing any of this, it’s the teachers.”
