Summary:
ZIP code 55021 is home to four elementary schools serving roughly 1,330 students: Roosevelt Early Learning Center (PK–K, 473 students), Lincoln Elementary (grades 1–5, 391 students), Jefferson Elementary (grades 1–5, 389 students), and Surad Academy Elementary (PK–6, 77 students). Three of the four belong to Faribault Public School District, while Surad Academy Elementary belongs to Surad Academy. Poverty is high across the area — free/reduced lunch ranges from 72.94% at Roosevelt to 100% at Surad — and every school ranks in the lower portion of Minnesota schools, with the highest rank percentile in the data reaching only 29th.
Surad Academy Elementary is the clear academic standout in 2025–2026: math was 46.0% proficient, above the state's 44.9%, and science was 27.3%, above the state's 25.5%. It also posted the largest improvement of any school with two years of data, gaining 15.4 points in math and 18.2 points in science. Its reading, though, was just 20.4% — far below the state's 48.6% — with 3rd-grade reading at 6.7%. Roosevelt Early Learning Center had the strongest 2024–2025 reading (42.63%) and science (30.65%) of the group, including a 5th-grade reading score of 66.13%, the highest grade-level figure in the data. However, it has no 2025–2026 scores and is listed as PK–K while reporting grades 3–5 results, so that comparison deserves caution.
Lincoln Elementary and Jefferson Elementary both improved from low starting points. Lincoln's math rose to 23.8% and its reading reached 34.3%, the highest 2025–2026 reading among the three reporting schools, while Jefferson's math reached 21.7% and science 13.2%. Both still trail state averages by wide margins. Reading is a shared weakness — no school beat the state in all-grade reading in either year — and science is especially low at Lincoln (11.4%) and Jefferson (13.2%) against the state's 25.5%. Surad's enrollment of only 77 students also means its percentages can swing substantially from year to year.
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