Bluestem

The Bluestem district has two schools serving 508 students from prekindergarten through grade 12: Bluestem Elementary School serves PK–6, and Bluestem Junior/Senior High serves grades 7–12. The clearest difference is in test results: the elementary school is near the state level in science, while the Junior/Senior High is below the state in all three subjects. In 2025–26, elementary science proficiency was 38%, essentially level with the state’s 38%; the high school’s was 17%, compared with 38% statewide. The most important finding for families is that results vary substantially between the two schools, particularly in science.

Bluestem Elementary led in every 2025–26 subject: 38% were proficient in ELA, 33% in math and 38% in science, versus 29%, 23% and 17% at the Junior/Senior High. The high school’s science result was 22 points below the elementary school’s, the widest gap between them. Graduation is a notable bright spot for the Junior/Senior High: its 2023–24 rate was 97%, compared with 90% statewide. Absenteeism also differs: elementary chronic absenteeism was 6%, 12 points below the state’s 18%; at the high school it was 21%, 3 points above.

Across the two test years, results moved farther from state averages overall, with the sharpest decline in high school science. The equal-school mean in science fell from 45% to 27%, while the state result declined from 41% to 38%. Elementary science bucked that pattern, rising by 1 point, while high school science fell by 37 points; ELA and math also declined at both schools. SchoolDigger gives both schools one star: elementary ranks 493rd of 657 schools, at the 25th percentile, and the Junior/Senior High ranks 304th of 340, at the 11th percentile. The high school’s percentile fell from 25th to 11th in the latest year. Elementary has a student-teacher ratio of 11.6 and a free/reduced-lunch rate of 42%; the high school’s figures are 9.3 and 48%. These are two schools with different grade spans, so their all-grades results do not compare identical grade mixes.