Summary:
Zip code 56304 is an elementary-only school area with two schools, both in the St. Cloud Public School District: Talahi Community Elementary (PK–3, enrollment 701) and Lincoln Elementary (4–5, enrollment 328), for a combined 1,029 students. There are no middle, high, or alternative schools here, so families leave the zip for secondary school. The district is ranked 363 of 458 in Minnesota (21st percentile, 1 star), and both schools serve high-poverty populations, with free/reduced lunch at 84.02% at Talahi and 81.1% at Lincoln, and similar student-teacher ratios of 11.7 and 11.5.
Comparing the two, Talahi Community Elementary is the stronger performer in shared tested subjects, posting 20.6% in all-grade math and 20% in reading in 2025–26, versus 12.1% and 18% at Lincoln Elementary. Talahi is also the only school here with year-over-year gains in both math (18.44% to 20.6%) and reading (16.2% to 20%), improving in reading while district and state reading declined. Grade structure matters when comparing them: Talahi serves PK–3, so its all-grade results reflect 3rd grade, while Lincoln's all-grade math and reading combine 4th and 5th grade. Lincoln's sharpest weak points are 5th grade, where math is 4.4% and science is 3.6%, with science falling from 7.89% to 3.6% year over year.
Both schools sit well below district and state averages, and their similar poverty rates and class sizes do not explain the differences between them. Their trends are mixed: Talahi gained in math and reading, while Lincoln gained in math but declined in science and was roughly flat in reading. Rank history for both remains near the bottom of Minnesota schools, with Lincoln at 4th percentile and 0 stars in 2025–26.
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