Summary:
Hastings Public School District includes eight schools — three elementary, one middle, and four high school programs — serving roughly 3,904 students in the Hastings, Minnesota area. The district is ranked 224th of 458 Minnesota districts, at the 51st percentile with 3 stars. Enrollment is fairly even by level, but the high school count is misleading: Hastings High School alone enrolls 1,301 students, while Hastings Alternative Center, HOA High School, and Staars together serve just 53.
Pinecrest Elementary is the clear standout: 4 stars, 78th percentile, with math proficiency of 65.6% and reading of 59.8%, both well above district and state averages — and it is the only school here with an upward rank trend. Christa McAuliffe Elementary is also strong, at 60.3% math and 54.5% reading, above district and state, but it slipped from 4 stars to 3 and saw math fall from 68.25% to 60.3%. Kennedy Elementary is mixed: math at 53.8% beats the district and state, but reading at 43.9% trails both. Hastings Middle School sits near the middle at the 51st percentile and 3 stars. Hastings High School shows the sharpest decline, falling from the 87th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 48th in 2025-2026, with reading dropping from 48.88% to 38%.
Science is the district's broadest weakness: 16.5% districtwide versus 25.5% statewide, with Hastings Middle at 16.0% and Hastings High at 19.0%. Completion outcomes, however, are a genuine strength — the district's 95.0% graduation rate far exceeds the state's 84.9%, and its 2.6% dropout rate is below the state's 4.2%; Hastings High posts 95.6% graduation and 2.8% dropout. Families should note that the smallest programs — HOA High School, Staars, and parts of Hastings Alternative Center — have test scores suppressed for privacy. Those blanks are unknown, not evidence of weakness, and small enrollments make percentages volatile.
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