Best Elementary Schools in Zip Code 56219

ZIP code 56219 is served by a single elementary school: Browns Valley Elementary, a PK–4 campus with 128 students in Browns Valley, MN, part of the Browns Valley Public School District. Because it is the only elementary school in the ZIP code, there are no local peer schools to compare it against — the useful comparisons are against its district and Minnesota statewide averages. In 2024–2025, 67.19% of students qualified for free or reduced lunch, and the student-teacher ratio was 9.9, which is relatively low.

Statewide, the school ranked 801 out of 869 in 2025–2026 — 8th percentile with 0 stars. That is down from 586 out of 872 (33rd percentile, 2 stars) in 2024–2025 and 420 out of 881 (52nd percentile, 3 stars) in 2023–2024, a fall of 381 rank positions in two years. In 2025–2026, 27.3% of students were proficient in math across All Grades, compared with 44.9% statewide, and only 13.6% were proficient in reading, compared with 48.6% statewide. Third-grade reading was 8.7% (state: 46.8%) and fourth-grade reading was 19% (state: 48.8%). Math was 17.4% in 3rd grade and 38.1% in 4th grade.

Math was a bright spot in 2024–2025, when Browns Valley Elementary hit 50% proficiency, above both the Browns Valley Public School District (42.86%) and the state (45.21%); a year later it fell 22.7 percentage points. Reading is the deeper concern. Fourth grade outperformed 3rd grade in both subjects, which may reflect real cohort differences or simply small-sample swings at a school of 128 students. All Grades math sits 4.3 points below the district and 17.6 below the state; reading is 18 points below the district and 35 points below the state. The clearest priorities are early reading intervention and understanding what drove the two-year decline.