Summary:
The Glencoe-Silver Lake School District in Minnesota serves about 1,390 students across four schools: Lincoln Elementary (PK–2), Lakeside Elementary (3–6), GSL Junior High School (7–8), and Glencoe-Silver Lake Senior High (9–12). Enrollment is nearly balanced between the elementary level (698 students) and the secondary level (692), with the high school the largest single school at 468 students. Overall, the district ranks 274th of 458 schools, placing it in the 40th percentile with 2 stars — an average that hides very different results from school to school.
Lakeside Elementary is the district's academic standout, earning 3 stars and ranking in the 65th percentile in 2025-2026, with proficiency above state averages in math (59.7% vs. 44.9%), reading (49.3% vs. 48.6%), and science (27.8% vs. 25.5%); its 5th and 6th grade math scores are especially strong. The high school tells a different story: it graduates 96.0% of students, well above the state's 84.9%, and its dropout rate of 2.4% is below the state's 4.2%, yet proficiency sits far below state levels in math (23.9%), reading (23.0%), and science (17.3%), and its rank fell from the 63rd percentile in 2023-2024 to the 23rd percentile in 2025-2026. GSL Junior High posted 32.7% in math, 36.8% in reading, and 8.5% in science — the lowest science figure in the data set.
Reading is the district's biggest weakness: district reading fell from 48.23% to 41.6%, and the high school's reading proficiency dropped from 50.48% to 23.0%. District science (17.9%) also trails the state (25.5%), while district math (46.5%) edges the state (44.9%) largely on Lakeside's strength. Staffing ratios vary widely — Lincoln has the lowest student/teacher ratio at 12.2 and the highest free/reduced lunch rate at 42.76%, while the high school has the highest ratio at 19.8 and the lowest rate at 28.85%. Lincoln has no test scores or ranking history here, consistent with its PK–2 grade span, so it cannot be compared academically.
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