South Koochiching School District

South Koochiching School District is a small, rural district in northern Minnesota with just two schools serving about 203 students across all grades: Northome Elementary (PK–6, enrollment 102) and Northome Secondary (7–12, enrollment 101). There is no separate middle school, so the secondary school covers both middle and high grades. The district ranks 400th of 458 Minnesota districts — the 13th percentile — and both schools currently hold 1 star in the 2025–2026 rankings.

Comparing the two schools, Northome Elementary generally posts the stronger academic numbers: math proficiency is 23.6% and reading 38.2%, both above the district's 15% and 33%, and its student/teacher ratio of 7.4 is lower than the secondary school's 9.9. Fourth-grade reading (42.9%) comes closest to the state's 48.8%. Northome Secondary stands out for completion rather than test scores: a 100% graduation rate and 0% dropout rate, far better than the state's 84.9% and 4.2%. Its science scores (19.4% all grades, 33.3% End of Course) edge out the elementary school's 9.1% and are near the state's 35%. However, its math proficiency is only 4.4%, with 0% in 8th- and 11th-grade math, and reading is 25.0%.

District-wide, math is the weakest subject at 15%, roughly 30 points below the state, and reading trails the state by about 16 points. Every local subject score declined from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, while state declines were small; elementary science fell furthest, to 9.1%. Economic need is high, with free/reduced lunch at 68.63% at the elementary school and 54.46% at the secondary school. Enrollments of about 100 students mean grade-level percentages swing widely, and the state suppressed 7th-grade math and reading results at Northome Secondary — those values are unknown, not evidence of low performance.