Summary:
Zip code 56161 is home to a single high-school-level school: Heron Lake-Okabena Secondary, a small rural school in Okabena, MN serving grades 7–12 with 137 students, part of the Heron Lake-Okabena School District. Because it is the only high school in the area, it represents the entire high-school picture for this zip code. With only 137 students, grade-level percentages are based on small groups, so a few students can shift results noticeably from year to year.
The school's academic results trail both the district and the state in every reported subject. In 2025–2026, all-grade proficiency was 15.4% in math, 15.3% in reading, and 7.1% in science, compared with state rates of 44.9%, 48.6%, and 25.5%. Results also dropped from the prior year — reading fell 17.4 points, science 12.3 points, and math 9.1 points — and its rank slipped from the 28th percentile in 2024–2025 to the 18th percentile in 2025–2026, holding a 1-star rating. Eighth grade is the clearest pressure point: 0% proficient in science, 5.9% in reading, and 5.6% in math. Note that the 0% is reported as an exact value, not a suppressed score.
Graduation is the relative bright spot: 86.9% of students graduated in 2024–2025, about 2 points above the state's 84.9%. However, the dropout rate was 13.0%, more than three times the state's 4.2%, suggesting that most students who do not graduate are counted as dropouts. About 45.26% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, and the student-teacher ratio is 13.6. Overall, this is a small, 1-star school facing real academic and student-retention challenges.
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