Summary:
The Browns Valley Public School District is a small rural Minnesota district serving about 205 students across just two schools — Browns Valley Elementary (grades PK–4, 128 students) and Browns Valley Middle (grades 5–9, 77 students). No high school is listed, so the district appears to serve students only through grade 9. Both schools have high economic need, with free/reduced lunch at 67.19% at the elementary and 68.83% at the middle. The district as a whole ranks 352 of 458 in Minnesota, at the 23rd percentile with 1 star — a rating that appears heavily influenced by the elementary school's recent decline.
Browns Valley Middle is the relative standout. Its rank has held steady at the 47th–48th percentile with 2 stars for three straight years, and its 2025–2026 all-grade reading of 42.9% was 11.3 points above the district and only 5.7 points below the state. Grade 6 math was 42.1%, above the state's 39.5%, and in 2024–2025 middle-school science was 30% versus the state's 26.15%. Still, the middle school declined in 2025–2026, with math falling from 38.89% to 34.3%, reading from 48.61% to 42.9%, and science from 30% to 18.2%. Its student-teacher ratio is 19.8 — exactly double the elementary's 9.9.
Browns Valley Elementary is the clearest area of concern. Its rank dropped from the 52nd percentile with 3 stars (2023–2024) to the 33rd percentile with 2 stars, then to the 8th percentile with 0 stars (2025–2026) — a 44-point fall. In 2025–2026, all-grade reading was just 13.6% against the state's 48.6%, and all-grade math was 27.3% against the state's 44.9%; 3rd grade reading was only 8.7%. Year over year, math fell from 50% to 27.3% and reading from 35% to 13.6%. Notably, its favorable 9.9 student-teacher ratio has not produced stronger results, and with such small enrollment, percentages can swing sharply from year to year.
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