Norman County East School District

The Norman County East School District is a small rural Minnesota district serving 166 students across just two schools: Norman County East Elementary for grades PK–6 (95 students) and Norman County East Secondary for grades 7–12 (71 students). There is no separate middle school. The district as a whole is rated 336th of 458 in Minnesota, at the 27th percentile with 1 star, but that single rating hides a sharp split between its two schools.

Norman County East Elementary is the bright spot. It now earns 3 stars and ranks 395th of 869 schools, the 55th percentile — up from the 17th percentile and 1 star in 2023–24, a gain of 334 ranking positions. In 2025–26, all-grade proficiency was 44% in math, 54% in reading, and 25% in science, above the district in every subject, above the state in reading, and essentially matching the state in math and science. Third-grade math (75%) and third-grade reading (66.7%) are its strongest grade-level results. All three subjects also improved from the prior year.

Norman County East Secondary is the district's main concern. It fell from 4 stars and the 88th percentile in 2023–24 to 1 star and the 14th percentile in 2024–25, recovering only to 2 stars and the 30th percentile in 2025–26. Absolute scores remain very low: 4.9% in math, 22.7% in reading, and 10.7% in science, with 0% reported in 7th-grade reading, 8th-grade math, and 8th-grade science. Notably, both schools have nearly identical free/reduced-lunch rates (47.37% and 47.89%) and similarly low student-teacher ratios (7.9 and 8.8), so those factors alone do not explain the gap. With such small enrollments, percentages can swing widely from year to year.