Summary:
Appleton, Minnesota has just one school in this data set: Appleton-Milan Elementary, a PK–4 elementary school with 230 students in Lac qui Parle Valley Schools. Because there are no middle, high, or alternative schools listed for the city, this is a case study of the city's only listed school rather than a comparison among Appleton schools. The district itself is rated 2 stars, ranks 295 of 458 in Minnesota, and sits at the 36th percentile.
Math is the school's relative bright spot, but mainly against its own district. In 2025–2026, all-grades math proficiency was 40.5%, which is 7.0 points above the district (33.5%) but 4.4 points below the state (44.9%). Math also improved year over year, rising from 38.1% to 40.5%. Reading is the clearest concern: all-grades reading was 30.4%, which is 4.3 points below the district (34.7%) and 18.2 points below the state (48.6%). Grade 4 reading was the lowest listed result at 28.6%, 3.1 points below the district and 20.2 points below the state, while grade 3 reading was 31.8%. Notably, the school is math-stronger and reading-weaker than both its district and the state, where reading typically edges out math. One oddity: all-grades math is above the district, yet the reported grade 3 and grade 4 math results are below it (−12.2 and −1.0 points).
The school has held a 1-star ranking for three straight years, with percentiles of 17, 24, and 21 — a modest improvement from 2023–2024, but still in the bottom quarter of ranked Minnesota schools and below the district's 36th percentile. Its free/reduced lunch rate was 61.74% in 2024–2025, and its student-teacher ratio was 13.2. Families should note the strong elementary-only coverage here; the city-level picture beyond grade 4 is not included in this data.
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