Summary:
The Verndale Public School District in central Minnesota contains a single elementary school: Verndale Elementary, located at 411 SW Brown St in the town of Verndale. It serves students in grades PK–6, with 253 students enrolled, 41.5% qualifying for free or reduced lunch in 2024–2025, and a student–teacher ratio of 11.8. Because it is the district's only elementary school, Verndale Elementary's results also define the district's elementary-level performance.
Reading is the school's strongest subject. In 2025–2026, 51.6% of students were proficient in reading, above the state's 48.6% and the district's 42.8%; 5th-grade reading reached 62.5% against a statewide 54.5%. Third-grade math stands out even more, at 73.8% proficient — 15.9 percentage points above the state. The school outperforms district averages in math, reading, and science in both 2024–2025 and 2025–2026. Its state rank has climbed for three straight years, from 566 of 881 to 462 of 869, moving from the 36th to the 47th percentile, though it still holds 2 stars and sits just below the state midpoint. The district overall ranks 356 of 458, in the 22nd percentile with 1 star.
Math and science remain the clearest challenges. Overall math proficiency is 41.6% versus the state's 44.9%, and science is 18.8% versus 25.5% — a figure reflecting 5th grade only, since science is reported just for that grade. Grade-level results vary widely: 6th-grade math is 17.9% against 39.5% statewide, 4th-grade reading is 35% against 48.8%, and 5th-grade math is 31.3% against 41.9%. The 55.9-point spread between 3rd-grade and 6th-grade math suggests notably different experiences by grade. Families should weigh the strong early-grade and reading results against the need for support in upper-grade math and science.
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