Summary:
Bird Island-Olivia-Lake Lillian is a small Minnesota district in the Olivia area with just two schools serving about 463 students in total: BOLD-Bird Island Elementary for prekindergarten through grade 6 (260 students) and BOLD Senior High School for grades 7 through 12 (203 students). There is no middle or alternative school here, so grades 7 and 8 are part of the high school and their results count in the high school's scores. The Bird Island-Olivia-Lake Lillian district is rated 2 stars and ranks 311 of 458 schools, in the 32nd percentile.
The elementary is the academic bright spot: in 2025–2026, math was 45.7% proficient, above the district's 33.3% and slightly above the state's 44.9%, and science was 29.4%, above the district's 23.6% and the state's 25.5%. Fourth-grade math stood out at 65.5% versus the state's 55.2%. Reading is the weak spot at 37.2%, below the state's 48.6%, and below state at every elementary grade, with the widest gap in 4th grade (29.1% versus 48.8%). Math also fell sharply from 70.93% in 2024–2025 to 45.7%. Its rank slipped from 66th percentile and 3 stars in 2023–2024 to 37th percentile and 2 stars in 2025–2026.
The high school is the reverse: graduation (88.2% versus the state's 84.9%) and dropout (3.9% versus 4.2%) are better than the state, and it improved to 44th percentile with 2 stars. But math is a serious concern at 18.4% overall — 11th grade 11.1% versus 35.3%, 8th grade 16.3% versus 42.3%, and 7th grade 24.6% versus 40.3%. Reading was 34.3% overall (state 48.6%), though 10th grade was 42.6%, essentially matching the state's 42.5%. Science slipped from 30.23% to 21.5%. Notably, the elementary has higher poverty (49.62% free/reduced lunch) and a higher student-teacher ratio (10.9) than the high school (33.5% and 8.8), yet stronger math and science results.
Thank you for your feedback!