Summary:
Rush City, Minnesota has two public schools serving about 805 students combined: C.E. Jacobson Elementary, which covers grades PK–6, and Rush City Secondary, which covers grades 7–12, so middle-school grades are housed in the secondary school rather than a separate middle school; both belong to the Rush City Public School District, which ranks 181 of 458 in Minnesota (60th percentile, 3 stars) — slightly above the state median.
Rush City Secondary is the clear standout. It has earned 4 stars for three straight years and ranks around the top 20% of Minnesota high schools. Its graduation rate is 91.9% versus the state's 84.9%, and its dropout rate is 3.2% versus 4.2% statewide. Science is a particular strength: End-of-Course science proficiency is 52.8% against 35% statewide, and all-grades science is 30.8% versus 25.5%. Tenth-grade reading (46.3% vs. 42.5%) and 8th-grade math (44.4% vs. 42.3%) also beat the state. The caveats are that all-grades math (39%) and reading (43%) sit below state averages, and 8th-grade science is just 9.3% versus 16.7% statewide.
C.E. Jacobson Elementary holds 2 stars and has ranked in roughly the 41st–46th percentile over three years. Its bright spots are early grades: 3rd-grade math is 70.6% against 57.9% statewide, and 3rd-grade reading is 51.5% against 46.8%. But grades 4–6 fall below state in both math and reading, and 5th-grade science is very low at 14.5% versus 25.9%. Math dropped from 50.6% to 42.2% year over year and science from 24.19% to 14.5%, while reading improved slightly to 46.8% but remains below state. Notably, its student-teacher ratio of 8.9 is much lower than the secondary school's 12.5, yet its overall results are weaker — a reminder that class size alone doesn't guarantee higher achievement. Priorities across the district are elementary and middle-level science, upper-elementary math and reading, and high-school math and reading.
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