Summary:
ZIP code 56007 in Albert Lea, Minnesota, contains exactly one middle school — Southwest Middle — which serves grades 6 and 7 and enrolls 486 students as part of the Albert Lea Public School District. Because it is the only middle school in this ZIP code, the most useful comparisons are the school's own year-over-year results and how it measures up against its district and the state of Minnesota.
Reading is the school's relative strength. In 2025–2026, all-grades reading proficiency was 37.9%, above the district's 33.7% and 10.7 points below the state's 48.6%. Seventh-grade reading (37.1%) had the smallest gap to the state of any reported grade-level result, just 6.4 points. Reading also improved year over year, rising from 33.95% in 2024–2025 even as district and state reading declined. Math is the clear challenge: all-grades math proficiency was 22.7% in 2025–2026, below the district's 30.4% and far below the state's 44.9%. Sixth-grade math (21.9%) and seventh-grade math (23.5%) were slightly above district averages but roughly 17–18 points below the state.
The school is improving, though from a low base. Math climbed from 17.62% to 22.7%, and reading from 33.95% to 37.9%. Southwest Middle moved from 1 star and the 19th percentile in 2024–2025 to 2 stars and the 30th percentile in 2025–2026, still within the lower third of Minnesota middle schools. The district, by comparison, ranks 353 of 458 districts, at the 23rd percentile with 1 star. In context, 58.23% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch and the student/teacher ratio is 14.3. One caveat: the 2025–2026 reading exam is labeled MCA-IV while the 2024–2025 exam is labeled MCA-III, so the reading gain should be read with some caution.
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