Summary:
Zip code 56007 contains eight schools serving prekindergarten through 12th grade — four elementary schools, one middle school, and three high schools, including an alternative learning center and an online academy — enrolling about 3,267 students, all within the Albert Lea Public School District, which is ranked 353 of 458 Minnesota districts at the 23rd percentile with 1 star.
Two elementaries are the academic bright spots. Lakeview Elementary has the strongest math in the zip at 55.4% proficient, above the district's 30.4% and the state's 44.9%, with 3rd grade math at 70.6%. Halverson Elementary posts the top science score in the zip at 30.0% — above district 18.0% and state 25.5% — and the highest reading at 39.7%, despite a 69.72% free/reduced lunch rate. Albert Lea Senior High is the largest school, and its rank rose from the 38th percentile two years ago to the 52nd percentile now, with a graduation rate of 89.0% versus the district's 76.2% and the state's 84.9%, though its math, reading, and science proficiency remain below state averages. Southwest Middle is strongest in reading at 37.9%, above the district but below the state.
Reading is a system-wide weakness: no school here exceeds the state average of 48.6%. Hawthorne Elementary is the exception to watch, with 5th grade math at 6.1% and science at 3.9%. Sibley Elementary has declined from the 26th percentile to the 15th despite the zip's lowest student/teacher ratio of 11.9. Albert Lea Area Learning Center (38.1% graduation, 22.2% dropout) and Albert Lea Secondary Online Academy serve very small, high-need populations; several of their values are suppressed and should be treated as unknown, not as zero.
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