Summary:
Bagley Public School District in northern Minnesota serves about 870 students across just two schools — Bagley Elementary for grades PK–6 (482 students) and Bagley Secondary for grades 7–12 (388 students) — so the district has no stand-alone middle school, and it ranks 393 of 458 districts statewide (14th percentile, 1 star).
Comparing the two, Bagley Elementary is the stronger school in math and reading, with 30.3% proficient in math and 32.9% in reading — above the district's 21.7% and 29.6%, though below the state's 44.9% and 48.6%. Bagley Secondary is slightly ahead in science (12.9% vs. 11.8%) and posts a graduation rate of 84.4%, essentially matching the district's 84.8% and the state's 84.9%. However, its dropout rate of 7.7% is nearly double Minnesota's 4.2%, and its math proficiency is only 8.5% overall.
Neither school meets state proficiency in any subject. Science is a district-wide concern: proficiency fell roughly 7 points at both schools and the district from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, while the state dropped only 0.7 points. Secondary math is the most acute weakness — 3.8% in 8th grade math versus 42.3% statewide, 6.5% in 11th grade math, and 8th grade reading at 10.6% versus the state's 50%. Rank history shows Bagley Elementary steady in the low 20s percentile, while Bagley Secondary improved from the 12th to the 19th percentile but remains a 1-star school, well below its 2023–2024 result of 39th percentile and 2 stars. Both schools have high free/reduced lunch rates (59.13% elementary, 55.41% secondary), yet the elementary's smaller classes (ratio 11.2 vs. 14.6) coincide with better math and reading results.
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