Summary:
Fosston Public School District is a small Minnesota district with just two schools — Magelssen Elementary (PK–6, 340 students) and Fosston Secondary (grades 7–12, 256 students) — enrolling 596 students combined. The Fosston Public School District ranks 153rd out of 458 in Minnesota, placing it in the 67th percentile with 3 stars.
The two schools tell opposite stories. Fosston Secondary is the consistent standout, holding 4 stars and top-quartile rankings across all three reported years (75th percentile in 2025–26) and graduating 92.3% of students versus 84.9% statewide. Its reading results are above state averages, including 10th grade at 51.4% and 8th grade at 56.0%, and 11th-grade math is 47.1% versus 35.3% statewide. Yet all-grade math (33.7% vs 44.9%) and science (21.7% vs 25.5%) trail the state, largely pulled down by 7th-grade math (27.0%) and 8th-grade math (34.0%). Magelssen Elementary posts stronger all-grade math (53.3%) and reading (52.9%) than the state, with exceptional 4th-grade results (79.2% math, 70.8% reading), but its science is just 10.0% and its rank has slid from the 72nd to the 54th percentile.
Science is the district's clearest weakness, and district science fell from 25.47% to 17.9% year over year, a much steeper drop than the state's. Most all-grade subjects declined, including secondary math (down 11.3 points). Fosston Secondary also has a 7.6% dropout rate against the state's 4.2%, even as its graduation rate beats the state. Free/reduced lunch rates are 58.53% at the elementary and 49.61% at the secondary, and student/teacher ratios are similar (12.6 vs 13.3). With only two schools and small grade-level cohorts, large swings — especially in science — should be read with caution.
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