Best Public Schools in Zip Code 66945

ZIP code 66945 has two schools in the Barnes district, serving PK–12: Hanover Elementary serves PK–8 and enrolls 231 students, while Hanover High serves grades 9–12 and enrolls 60. In 2025–26, both schools’ all-grade results were above state results in ELA and math, while science was only slightly higher. The clearest shared strength is math: their equal-weighted average was 76% proficient, 35 points above the state’s 41%.

Hanover High stands out in all-grade math, at 84% versus 67% at Hanover Elementary, a 17-point gap; their ELA results were closer, at 68% and 67%. Both schools had 40% in science. The grade-level results show more variation: High’s 10th-grade math was 84%, 48 points above the state, and its ELA was 68%, 28 points above. Elementary was well above the state in 3rd- and 6th-grade math, but its 5th-grade math advantage was just 5 points; 5th-grade science was 20%, 26 points below the state. These are specific subject and grade differences, not evidence that one school is uniformly stronger. Because the schools serve different grade spans, their all-grade scores are not direct grade-for-grade comparisons; High’s 60-student enrollment also means results can reflect relatively few students.

Both schools’ ELA and math averages moved further ahead of state results from 2024–25 to 2025–26: the ELA advantage grew from 15 to 22 points, and the math advantage from 15 to 35 points. Science is a notable exception: Elementary’s score fell 32 points to 40%, narrowing its advantage over the state from 31 points to 2. SchoolDigger rankings rose for both schools: High went from the 16th percentile in 2023–24 to the 93rd in 2024–25 and 94th in 2025–26; Elementary rose from the 66th to the 80th percentile over those years. Attendance is another consideration: High’s chronic absenteeism was 38%, compared with 18% statewide, while Elementary reported 0%. Their student-teacher ratios were 8 at High and 25.7 at Elementary, and their 2024–25 free/reduced-lunch rates were similar—15% and 15.2%, respectively; these figures describe different school contexts but do not explain the score differences.