Winterquist Elementary

Winterquist Elementary is the sole elementary school in the Esko Public School District, serving 684 students in grades PK–6 in the small community of Esko, Minnesota, just off Highway 61 southwest of Duluth, and feeding into Esko High School.

Winterquist has earned a 5-star rating every year on record and has never ranked outside the top 10% of Minnesota elementary schools over the past decade, placing 84th of 869 schools (90th percentile) in 2025-26. Its district ranks 14th of 458 Minnesota districts. Reading is the school's standout: 69.8% proficiency, the highest of any nearby school, 6.5 points above Hermantown Elementary and 21.2 points above the state average. Math (70.8%) trails only Hermantown (77.4%) and beats every other neighbor by 5.9 points or more. Science (27.1%) is the outlier — only 1.6 points above the state and below the district's own 33.7%. Notably, Winterquist achieves this with the largest class sizes in its peer group (16.1 students per teacher, tied with Hermantown) and the lowest poverty rate (16.4% free/reduced lunch). Nearby schools that are closer in distance — Washington Elementary (4.3 mi, 62nd percentile), South Terrace Elementary (4.8 mi, 26th), Churchill Elementary (5.1 mi, 75th) — perform far below, so proximity does not predict performance here. Hermantown is the only true peer, though it is stronger in math and weaker in reading.

Two trends are worth watching. Science proficiency dropped from 62.1% in 2022-23 to 27.1% in 2025-26 — a large swing, though science is tested only in grade 5, and the assessment label changed from MCA-III to MCA-IV, so it may partly reflect a reporting change. Meanwhile, the school's state rank has settled from the 97th–99th percentile (2016-17, 2017-18) into the 90th–92nd, still 5-star territory. A bright spot: low-income students rank in the 91st percentile compared with low-income students statewide. Math strength also grows in upper grades, with 6th graders 27.5 points above the state.