Summary:
Red Lake Falls, Minnesota is a small city served by two public schools — J.A. Hughes Elementary for grades PK–6 and Lafayette Secondary for grades 7–12 — both in the Red Lake Falls Public School District, which enrolls 421 students total and ranks 167 of 458 districts statewide (64th percentile, 3 stars). There is no standalone middle school and no alternative school in the data.
The two schools play very different roles. J.A. Hughes Elementary is the academic bright spot in math and reading, with 53.8% math and 57.7% reading proficiency — above the district (47.2% and 53.4%) and the state (44.9% and 48.6%) — and especially strong results in grades 3 and 6 math and grade 6 reading. Lafayette Secondary trails the state in math (37.2%), reading (47.3%) and science (18.8%), but posts outstanding completion outcomes: a 100% graduation rate and 0% dropout rate versus 84.9% and 4.2% statewide. The secondary school also has a higher student-teacher ratio (12.7 vs. 9.9) and a lower free/reduced lunch rate (32.07% vs. 42.19%).
Science is the clearest district-wide concern. Elementary science sits at 11.8% against the state's 25.5%, and grade 8 science at 3.1% against 16.7% — though high school End of Course science is close to the state at 34.4% versus 35.0%, suggesting the weakness is concentrated in earlier tested grades. Both schools also slipped from 4 stars to 3 stars this year, with Lafayette's percentile falling from 88th to 59th, and year-over-year scores dropped in most subjects except elementary reading, which rose from 55.56% to 57.7%. Parents should watch science instruction and the ranking trend closely, while noting the elementary's strong math and reading and the secondary's exceptional graduation outcomes.
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