Summary:
ZIP code 55349 is served by a single middle school, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Middle, which enrolls 393 students in grades 5–8 and belongs to the Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted district in Howard Lake, Minnesota.
The school presents a mixed picture rather than a uniformly strong or weak one. Reading is its clearest strength: all-grade Reading proficiency is 52.1%, above both the district's 45.2% and the state's 48.6%, making it the only subject where the school beats the state. Seventh-grade Reading is especially notable at 51.6% versus the state's 43.5%, an 8.1 percentage-point advantage, and grades 6 and 8 also exceed state levels. Math, however, is a consistent weakness. All-grade Math proficiency is 25.9%, below the district's 33.0% and 19.0 points below the state's 44.9%. Every reported Math grade trails the state, with 5th grade the largest gap at 12.9% versus 41.9% statewide — a 29.0 percentage-point shortfall. Science is the lowest-performing subject at 12.6%, below the district's 17.3% and roughly half the state's 25.5%.
The school compares favorably with its own district overall but is trending downward. Its 2025–2026 rank is 237 of 546, at the 57th percentile with 3 stars, while the district sits at 269 of 458, the 41st percentile with 2 stars. Still, the school's rank percentile has slipped from 66 to 61 to 57 over three reported years, and Math and Science declines align with that drift: all-grade Math fell 5.61 points and Science fell 5.96 points from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026. For parents, the practical takeaway is to celebrate and preserve the Reading gains while pressing for support in Math and Science, particularly 5th grade Math and Science. One note for year-over-year Reading comparisons: the 2025–2026 Reading exam is labeled MCA-IV while the prior year is labeled MCA-III.
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