Summary:
ZIP code 56157 in southwestern Minnesota is served by a single middle school, Lynd Middle School, which enrolls 71 students in grades 5–8 as part of the Lynd Public School District. Because there are no other middle schools in the area to compare against, the most useful benchmarks are the district and the state of Minnesota. The school's most encouraging signal is its recent upward movement: it climbed from 446th of 545 schools (18th percentile, 1 star) in 2023–2024 to 320th of 546 (41st percentile, 2 stars) in 2025–2026, a 107-place gain from the prior year and its first 2-star rating in the available history.
Academically, results are mixed. All-grade Reading is the school's strongest subject at 36.8%, though still below the state's 48.6%; 6th grade Reading is the only reported grade-level result above the state, at 54.5% versus 53.4%. All-grade Math sits at 22.8% against the state's 44.9%, but it nearly doubled year over year, rising from 11.48%. Science is the weakest area: proficiency fell from 16.67% to 10.3%, and it trails the state's 25.5%, with 5th grade Science at just 6.3%. Two results stand out as urgent — 5th grade Math at 0% proficient and 7th grade Reading at 23.5%, about 20 points below the state.
Parents should keep the school's small size in mind: with 71 students spread across four grades, each grade has few test-takers, so a single student can move a grade-level rate several points, and results like 0% in 5th grade Math or 54.5% in 6th grade Reading should be read with that caveat. The student-teacher ratio is 15.4, and 53.52% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, meaning a majority come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds — useful context when interpreting these gaps. The district is currently ranked 326th of 458 statewide (29th percentile, 1 star), so the school's own percentile ranking is the brighter of the two signals. The biggest priorities are 5th grade Math, Science overall, and 7th grade Reading.
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