Summary:
Carlton Secondary is the only high school serving Carlton Public School District, so it is the single option for families in this area. It is a grades 6–12 school with 145 students, located at 405 School Ave in Carlton, MN, and it serves both middle school and high school grades under one roof. Because there are no other local high schools to compare against, the most useful comparisons are to district, state, and prior-year results.
The most striking feature of the data is how quickly Carlton Secondary has climbed in Minnesota's high school rankings: from 282 of 480 (41st percentile, 2 stars) in 2023–2024, to 213 of 450 (53rd percentile, 3 stars) in 2024–2025, to 68 of 473 (86th percentile, 4 stars) in 2025–2026 — a 214-position gain and a jump from 2 to 4 stars. Science is the clearest academic strength: all-grades science rose from 15.15% to 35.9% proficient in one year, above both the district (27.9%) and the state (25.5%), and End-of-Course science was 54.2% versus 35.0% statewide. High school grades also beat the state — 11th-grade math at 38.1% vs. 35.3%, and 10th-grade reading at 50.0% vs. 42.5%. The school's 92.0% graduation rate is well above the state's 84.9%, and its 4.0% dropout rate is slightly better than the state's 4.2%.
The weaker results are concentrated in the middle grades, which pull down the school-wide averages. Seventh-grade math was 20.0% vs. 40.3% statewide, 8th-grade math 18.8% vs. 42.3%, 7th-grade reading 20.0% vs. 43.5%, and 8th-grade reading 18.8% vs. 50.0% — the largest gap in the data at 31.2 points. Reading overall was essentially flat year over year (34.29% to 34.0%), even as math and science improved. Note also that the district record shows 280 of 458 (39th percentile, 2 stars), far below the school's own 2025–2026 ranking, and with only 145 students, percentages can swing sharply from year to year, so these gains are worth watching over more years.
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