Pipestone Area School District

Pipestone Area School District in Minnesota serves four schools—two elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school—covering PK–12 plus a small K–8 setting, with 1,138 students listed. The district is rated 378 of 458 in Minnesota, at the 17th percentile with 1 star. Enrollment is concentrated: Pipestone Elementary has 580 students (about 51%), Pipestone Senior High has 302 (about 26.5%), Pipestone Middle has 244 (about 21.4%), and Heartland Elementary has only 12 (about 1.1%). The weighted free/reduced-lunch rate is about 44.8%, and the enrollment-weighted student-teacher ratio is roughly 13.3 students per teacher.

Among ranked schools, Pipestone Elementary is the academic standout: it is the only school above the district in all three tested subjects in 2025–2026, with 37.9% math, 41.8% reading, and 16.7% science. Even so, it trails Minnesota in every subject. Pipestone Senior High stands out for a 92.0% graduation rate—above the state’s 84.9%—but its dropout rate is 6.6% versus the state’s 4.2%, and its math and reading proficiency are well below district and state levels. Pipestone Middle has the weakest reported profile, including 3.0% science overall and 3.0% in 8th grade science, compared with 16.7% statewide in 8th grade. Heartland Elementary cannot be judged on proficiency because its 2025–2026 scores are suppressed and should be treated as unknown, not zero.

The district trails Minnesota in every core subject: 24.9% vs. 44.9% math, 33.8% vs. 48.6% reading, and 13.1% vs. 25.5% science, with the largest gap in math (20 percentage points). Rank history has declined for all ranked schools: Pipestone Elementary fell from the 46th to 30th percentile, Pipestone Senior High from 29th to 19th, and Pipestone Middle from 29th to 16th. Pipestone Senior High’s reported reading dropped from 39.47% to 19.0% year over year, while science rose from 13.33% to 20.0%. Pipestone Middle’s science fell from 6.9% to 3.0%. Free/reduced lunch and student-teacher ratio do not show a simple relationship with outcomes here, and Heartland Elementary’s very small size makes comparisons to larger schools unreliable.