Summary:
Deer River, Minnesota has three schools in this data set, all within the Deer River Public School District: King Elementary (PK–5, 390 students), Deer River Secondary (6–12, 425 students), and Deer River High School ALP (10–12, 13 students). Middle grades are housed inside the secondary building. The district overall ranks 266 of 458 in Minnesota, at the 42nd percentile with 2 stars, but that average blends two very different schools. Poverty indicators are relatively high, with free/reduced lunch at 59.06% at the Secondary, 67.95% at King, and 76.92% at the ALP.
King Elementary is the standout. In 2025–2026 it ranked 183 of 869 elementary schools, at the 79th percentile with 4 stars, up from the 66th percentile with 3 stars in 2023–2024. It beats both the district and the state in Math (62.8% vs. 39.5% and 44.9%), Reading (67.1% vs. 50.3% and 48.6%), and Science (29.4% vs. 18.2% and 25.5%), with 3rd grade Math at 82% and 3rd grade Reading at 76.1%. Notably, King has a higher free/reduced lunch rate than the Secondary and a lower student-teacher ratio (8.5 vs. 10.6).
Deer River Secondary is the opposite story, falling to 393 of 473, the 17th percentile with 1 star, down from the 36th percentile with 2 stars in 2023–2024. Its all-grade scores trail the district and state in every subject — Math 21.1%, Reading 37.3%, Science 12.4% — and its dropout rate, 7.4%, is well above the state's 4.2%, even though its graduation rate of 87.0% tops both district and state. Deer River High School ALP, with only 13 students, has its current test scores and graduation/dropout data not reported, so it cannot be fairly compared on proficiency.
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