Summary:
ZIP code 55025, covering Forest Lake, Minnesota, contains exactly one middle school: Forest Lake Area Middle School, which serves grades 6–8 with an enrollment of 916 students — roughly 300 per grade — and belongs to the Forest Lake Public School District. Because there is only one school in the ZIP, there is no local peer to compare against; the useful benchmarks are the school against its own district and against the state of Minnesota.
On those benchmarks, the school looks strong. It earned 4 stars in each of the last three years while its district earned 3, and its most recent state rank is 119th of 546 middle schools (78th percentile) — versus the district's 62nd percentile. In 2025‑26, math proficiency was 49.6% against 44.9% statewide, and reading was 51.6% against 48.6% statewide; reading also edged out the district's 49.6%, while math matched the district's 49.9% almost exactly. Rank has held steady rather than declined: 92nd of 545 (83rd percentile), then 127th of 519 (76th), then 119th of 546 (78th). Grade-level results show particular strength in 7th-grade math at 55.4%, the largest margin over the state anywhere in the data at +15.1 points.
Two things are worth watching. First, 8th-grade science is the clear weak spot at 15.2%, below the state's 16.7% — though it improved from 11.62% and mirrors the district's 8th-grade figure of 15.1% almost exactly, pointing to a system-level rather than building-level pattern. Second, the subject profile shifted in the latest year: math slipped from 53.24% to 49.6% while reading rose from 45.89% to 51.6%, moving the school from below the state in reading to above it. Other soft spots include 6th-grade math (41.3%, only +1.8 over the state) and 7th-grade reading (45.8%, a 10.1-point drop from 6th grade). Context: 26.09% of students receive free/reduced lunch, and the student-teacher ratio is 19.2 — about 48 teachers for 916 students.
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