Summary:
ZIP code 55795 in Willow River, Minnesota, is served by exactly one high school: Willow River Secondary, a grades 7–12 school with 205 students in the Willow River Public School District. Because it is the only school in the ZIP code, all comparisons below are against its district and the state of Minnesota.
Willow River Secondary's clearest strength is completion. Its graduation rate is 96.3% and its dropout rate is 0.0% for 2024–2025, both matching the district and well above the state's 84.9% graduation rate and 4.2% dropout rate. Science is a relative bright spot: all-grade science proficiency is 30.6% (state: 25.5%), and end-of-course science is 48.5% (state: 35%). Upper-grade reading is also strong, with 10th-grade reading at 50% versus the state's 42.5% and 8th-grade reading at 48.3% versus the state's 50%. The school's ranking has climbed from 261 of 480 schools in 2023–2024 (46th percentile, 2 stars) to 150 of 473 in 2025–2026 (68th percentile, 3 stars).
Math is the biggest concern. All-grade math proficiency is 12.9%, far below the district's 32.2% and the state's 44.9%. Middle-school math is especially low: 10.8% in 7th grade and 10.3% in 8th grade, against state rates of 40.3% and 42.3%. Reading is uneven — 7th-grade reading is just 27% versus the state's 43.5%, and all-grade reading is 40.8% versus 48.6%. Year over year, all-grade math fell by 11.86 percentage points and reading by 8.16 points, while science was essentially flat. With 205 students and a 13:1 student/teacher ratio, grade-level cohorts are small, so a few students can shift percentages by several points. Families should weigh the strong graduation and science results against the clear need for math and early-secondary reading support.
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