Lincoln Education Center

Lincoln Education Center is a small alternative public school in the Brainerd Public School District in Brainerd, MN, serving grades 3–12 with 105 students, in a setting where no other schools are listed within 20 miles.

Academically, state test results at Lincoln are far below both district and state levels. Math proficiency is reported as 0% in every year with school-level data, compared with roughly 45–49% for the district and state. Reading is the school's strongest subject, but even its best year reached only 14.29% (2022–23) and it was 8.82% in 2024–25, while science ranged from 10% in 2022–23 to 4.35% in 2024–25 and 0% in other reported years. In 2025–26, 11th-grade math was 0% versus 30.8% district and 35.3% state. Many grade-level results are suppressed by the state because of small tested populations; those values are unknown, not zero. Because no other schools are located within 20 miles, the meaningful benchmarks here are district and state averages.

Graduation and dropout figures swing widely. The graduation rate was 72.7% in 2024–25 — a large jump from 27.2% in 2022–23, though still 13.4 points below the district and 12.2 points below the state. Dropout fell from 36.3% in 2022–23 to 0.0% in 2024–25, better than district (1.4%) and state (4.2%). With only about 105 students, a few students can move these percentages dramatically, so one strong year is encouraging but not yet a settled trend. Two important context points: about 72–77% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, and the student-teacher ratio is very low (6.1 to 7.5 students per teacher), suggesting small classes and intensive staffing for a high-need population.