Summary:
ZIP code 55604 covers Grand Marais, Minnesota — the seat of Cook County, the state's smallest county by population and its northeastern-most community on Lake Superior. Just one middle school serves the area: Cook County Middle, which enrolls about 95 students in grades 6–8 (roughly 32 per grade) and belongs to Cook County Public Schools. Class sizes are small, with an 11.4-to-1 student-teacher ratio, and 44.21% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Academically, the school trails both the state and its own district. In 2025-2026, 15.9% of students met proficiency in Math (state: 44.9%), 34.5% in Reading (state: 48.6%) and 4.5% in Science (state: 25.5%, and 16.7% for 8th grade). The district's all-grades averages — 27% Math, 42.4% Reading, 30.6% Science — exceed the middle school's in every subject, and the district overall ranks 49th percentile (2 stars) while the school sits at the 21st percentile (1 star). The school's state ranking has fallen three years running: 325th of 545 (2 stars), then 386th of 519, then 431st of 546 (1 star) — a 19-point percentile drop in two years.
Testing patterns add context. Math has been essentially flat at about 15.6–15.9% across both years, while Reading fell 7.6 points and Science dropped 11.1 points, from 15.63% to 4.5%. Reading is the narrowest gap to the state and the strongest subject in 6th grade (43.2%), and Math improves by grade (5.6%, 20.0%, 27.3%). Because the school is small, one student can shift a grade-level score by 3–5 points, so single-year swings deserve caution; the consistent three-year ranking decline is the more reliable signal.
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