Summary:
High schools in the Paynesville Area Schools area are represented by a single campus: Paynesville Area Secondary School, a grades 6–12 school serving 465 students. Because it is the only listed high school here, there is no in-area peer to compare it against, so the district and state are the most useful yardsticks. The district overall ranks 279 of 458 in Minnesota, in the 39th percentile with 2 stars.
The school's clearest strength is completion: its graduation rate is 95.2%, matching the district and running about 10 percentage points above the statewide 84.9%. Sixth grade is the academic bright spot, with 62.5% proficient in reading (vs. 53.4% statewide) and 42.2% in math (vs. 39.5% statewide) — the only grade levels that beat the state. Math also improved across all grades, rising from 22.4% to 30.7% proficiency in a year, a gain larger than the district or state saw.
Concerns center on science and the upper grades. All-grade science proficiency was 9.3% against 25.5% statewide, with 8th grade at 5.5% (vs. 16.7%) and End-of-Course at 12.7% (vs. 35%). Reading (38.9% vs. 48.6%) and math (30.7% vs. 44.9%) also trail the state overall, and every reported grade-level result except 6th grade falls below state averages. The school ranked 357 of 473 in 2025–2026 (25th percentile, 1 star), and its dropout rate was 4.7% vs. 4.2% statewide. About 28% of students receive free or reduced lunch, with a 14.5:1 student-teacher ratio.
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