Deer River Secondary

Deer River Secondary is a public 6–12 school in Deer River, MN, serving 425 students in the Deer River Public School District in a rural northern Minnesota community about 13 miles from Grand Rapids. In 2025–26 it earned 1 star and ranked 393rd of 473 Minnesota high schools (17th percentile), its lowest standing in ten years; it was a 4-star, top-20% school in 2016–17 and 2017–18 before a sharp drop from 35th to 17th percentile this year. About 59.1% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, higher than Grand Rapids Senior High (35.8%) and Greenway Senior High (45.8%). The student–teacher ratio is 10.6, the lowest among comparison schools.

In 2025–26, math proficiency was 21.1%, reading 37.3%, and science 12.4% — all below district and state averages. Science is the weakest subject, about half the state rate (25.5%) and down from 33.7% two years earlier. Reading is near state parity in 7th grade (43.6% vs 43.5%) but falls to 20.5% in 10th grade against a state rate of 42.5%. Math declines to 13.0% in 11th grade, though it has improved slightly over three years (15.7% to 21.1%), while reading has slipped (42.8% to 37.3%).

Graduation is a bright spot: 87.0% in 2024–25, above the district (83.9%) and state (84.9%), and the school has beaten both for two straight years. Dropout, however, is 7.4% versus the state’s 4.2%, and has exceeded the state rate in four of the last five years. Compared with Northland Secondary, Deer River has a much higher graduation rate (87.0% vs 68.4%) and lower dropout (7.4% vs 21.0%), but Greenway Senior High and Grand Rapids Senior High have higher graduation rates, lower dropout, and lower poverty. Deer River’s science is the lowest among reporting peers, while its math beats Greenway and Northland. The school’s overall rank is lower than the ranks for its special education students (51st percentile) and low-income students (37th percentile), suggesting some groups are served better than the headline number shows.