Grand Meadow Middle

Grand Meadow Middle is a 131-student school serving grades 5–8 in Grand Meadow, MN, a small rural community about 10–20 miles from Stewartville, Adams, and Austin, and part of Grand Meadow Public School District. In 2025–26 it ranked 203rd of 546 Minnesota middle schools — the 63rd percentile, or 3 stars — the highest percentile in this comparison group and above its own district’s 51st-percentile rank. After three years at 1 star and mid-teens to low-20s percentiles from 2020–21 through 2022–23, the school jumped about 40 percentile points and has held at 61st–63rd percentile for three straight years, suggesting a durable turnaround rather than a one-year blip.

Academically, reading and science are the standouts. Reading proficiency is 52.9%, the best in the peer group, above the state’s 48.6% and above the district’s 50.4%; it beats Stewartville Middle (48.3%), Southland Middle (42.9%), I.J. Holton Intermediate School (36.6%), and Ellis Middle (33.1%). Science is 26.8%, leading every comparison school and edging the state’s 25.5%; by contrast, Stewartville is 12.5%, Southland 16.7%, I.J. Holton 10.1%, and Ellis 6.1%. Math is the weak spot: 33.3% is second in the group behind Stewartville’s 36.7%, but 11.6 points below the state (44.9%) and below the district’s 35.4%. Seventh-grade math is especially low at 25.9%, well behind the state (40.3%) and behind Southland and Stewartville, while 5th and 8th grades are strong.

Other parent-relevant patterns: low-income students are the school’s highest-rated group, at the 90th percentile and 5 stars in 2025–26, up from the 74th percentile in 2023–24. Male students consistently outrank female students by 21–28 percentile points, including a 26-point gap in 2025–26. The student–teacher ratio is the highest in the comparison set at 19.5 and has risen from 18.1, even as results improved; free/reduced lunch is 27.5% and has declined over three years. Because Grand Meadow Middle has only about 30–35 students per grade, single-year subject scores can swing, so the stable three-year rank is the more reliable signal. Bottom line: a small rural school with strong reading, science, and low-income-student outcomes, plus clear challenges in math, especially 7th grade, and a rising student–teacher ratio.