Lac qui Parle Valley Schools

Lac qui Parle Valley Schools is a four-school Minnesota district serving PK–12 students in the Lac qui Parle Valley area, with 2 elementary schools, 1 middle school, and 1 high school enrolling 890 students, and is ranked 295 of 458 districts (36th percentile, 2 stars). The largest school is Lac Qui Parle Valley Secondary (grades 7–12, 380 students), while Lac Qui Parle Valley Middle School covers grades 5–6 and the two elementaries, Appleton-Milan Elementary and Madison-Marietta-Nassau Elementary, serve PK–4. Because grades 7–8 sit in the Secondary school, their test results appear there, not at the middle school.

The clearest academic standout is Madison-Marietta-Nassau Elementary. In 2025–2026 it had 56.9% math and 50.0% reading proficiency, above both the district and state, plus 73.3% in 3rd grade math and 63.3% in 3rd grade reading. It also has the district’s lowest free/reduced-lunch rate (35.76%) and lowest student-teacher ratio (11.6), and its rank rose from the 39th to 49th to 56th percentile, moving from 2 to 3 stars. Lac Qui Parle Valley Secondary is improving too: its rank went from 37th to 57th percentile and 2 to 3 stars, and its graduation rate is 90.0%, above the state’s 84.9%, with a 4.2% dropout rate. Its overall MCA proficiency remains low—25.9% math, 29.5% reading, 16.8% science—though 10th grade reading (44.1%) and End of Course science (37.9%) beat state averages, while 8th grade reading (16.4%) and 8th grade science (0%) are far below.

Appleton-Milan Elementary is the main concern: it has the highest free/reduced-lunch rate (61.74%), stays around the 21st percentile with 1 star, and its reading proficiency is 30.4%, below both the district (34.7%) and state (48.6%), even though math is 40.5%, above the district’s 33.5%. Lac Qui Parle Valley Middle School has no rank history; its reading is 38.2% (above district, below state), math is 29.3% (below both), and science is 20.7% (above district’s 18.0%, below state’s 25.5%). District-wide, scores trail the state in math by 11.4 points, reading by 13.9 points, and science by 7.5 points. Science is a broad weak spot. The district is below state averages, but Madison-Marietta-Nassau Elementary stands out for proficiency and Lac Qui Parle Valley Secondary for improvement and graduation outcomes.