Summary:
Lancaster, Minnesota has two public schools serving grades PK–12 in the Lancaster Public School District: Lancaster Elementary (PK–6, 122 students) and Lancaster Secondary (7–12, 86 students), for a combined enrollment of 208. Both share one campus and one district, which is ranked 354th of 458 Minnesota districts — the 23rd percentile, with 1 star. Because enrollment is small, many percentages rest on a handful of students and can swing widely from year to year; some values, including 3rd grade Math and Reading at the elementary, are suppressed by the state and are unknown rather than zero.
Within the district, the two schools look very different. In 2025–2026, Lancaster Elementary beat the district in all three subjects — Math 35.6% vs 27.7%, Reading 44.1% vs 37.2%, Science 22.2% vs 17.5% — while remaining below the state in each (−9.3 Math, −4.5 Reading, −3.3 Science). Lancaster Secondary fell below both district and state: Math 14.3%, Reading 25.7%, Science 13.6%, with gaps to the state of roughly 12–31 points. Notably, the elementary serves a higher share of students from low-income families (63.93% free/reduced lunch vs 50%) yet posts much stronger proficiency, and student-teacher ratios are similar (14.8 and 14.4).
Trends are a concern at both schools. Lancaster Elementary dropped from 411 of 872 schools (53rd percentile, 3 stars) in 2024–2025 to 602 of 869 (31st percentile, 2 stars) in 2025–2026, with Math falling about 16 points from 51.56% to 35.6%. Lancaster Secondary has declined three years running — 52nd percentile/3 stars, then 40th/2 stars, then 27th/1 star — with 8th grade Math and Science and 11th grade Math reported at 0% in 2025–2026, though 7th grade was near state levels (38.5% in Math and Reading). Its bright spot is a 2024–2025 graduation rate of 88.8%, above the state's 84.9%, paired with a dropout rate of 5.5% versus the state's 4.2%.
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