Summary:
ZIP code 55398 has just one middle school, Zimmerman Middle, serving grades 6–8 with 514 students as part of the Elk River Public School District, so families here have a single middle-school option rather than a choice among several campuses.
By state standards, that option is a strong one. Zimmerman Middle ranked 108th of 545 middle schools in 2023–2024, 87th of 519 in 2024–2025, and 83rd of 546 in 2025–2026, moving from the 80th to the 85th percentile while holding a 4-star rating. In 2025–2026, math proficiency was 56.9%, which is 12 points above the state's 44.9% and improved by 3.42 points from the prior year even as district and state math slipped slightly. Reading came in at 52.9%, about 4.3 points above the state. Grade 6 and grade 7 math were the standout results, at 58.5% and 59.1% respectively — nearly 19 points above the state and above the district as well.
The caveats are worth knowing. Science is the clearest weak spot: the all-grade figure of 19.3% sits 6.2 points below the state and 10.8 points below the district, though that all-grade number matches the 8th-grade science result exactly, suggesting the school reports science only for grade 8 — and against the same grade 8 comparison, Zimmerman Middle is actually above the state (19.3% vs. 16.7%). Reading, while above state, trails the district by 6.4 points, with grade 7 reading the lowest at 46.9%. The district overall is highly rated at 5 stars and the 92nd percentile, so the school performs above state norms but generally below its own district average. Overall: a solid, steadily improving school with particular strength in grade 6–7 math.
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