Summary:
ZIP code 55056 is home to a single middle school — North Branch Area Middle School — which serves grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 615 students as part of North Branch Area Public Schools. About 29.11% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, and the student-teacher ratio is 18.7 students per teacher. Because there is only one middle school here, families have no local alternative to compare against; the most meaningful comparisons are how this school performs relative to its district and to Minnesota as a whole.
Reading is the school's strongest subject. In 2025–2026, all-grades reading proficiency was 46.0%, above the district's 44.1% and only 2.6 points below the state's 48.6%. Seventh-grade reading (45.0%) beats both the district and the state. Math and science are the weaker areas: all-grades math was 29.7% and science 12.9%, compared with district figures of 38.9% and 18.7% and state figures of 44.9% and 25.5%. Science is roughly half the state rate. Eighth grade is the weakest band, with math at 24.1% versus the state's 42.3%, reading at 40.2% versus 50.0%, and science at 12.9% versus 16.7%. Seventh grade is clearly the bright spot.
The school is moving in the right direction. Its statewide rank climbed from 350th of 545 (36th percentile) in 2023–2024, to 290th of 519 (44th percentile) in 2024–2025, to 281st of 546 (49th percentile) in 2025–2026 — a gain of 69 places and 13 percentile points. It has held a 2-star rating across all three years. Proficiency rose in math, reading, and science from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026 even as state averages declined in all three subjects, and it now sits near the middle of Minnesota middle schools. Reading results are the highlight, while science and 8th-grade math are the clearest areas to watch.
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