Best Public Schools in Zip Code 56342

Zip code 56342 covers the Isle, Minnesota area and includes three schools: Isle Elementary (PK–6, 200 students), Isle Secondary (grades 7–12, 188 students), and Isle Area Learning Center (grades 7–12, only 6 students). There is no separate middle school — grades 7 and 8 are part of Isle Secondary. Total enrollment is 394, and about half of students at the two main schools qualify for free/reduced lunch. All three belong to Isle Public School District, which ranks 271 of 458 in Minnesota (41st percentile, 2 stars).

The two main schools are moving in opposite directions. Isle Secondary jumped from 366 of 450 (19th percentile, 1 star) to 240 of 473 (49th percentile, 2 stars), while Isle Elementary slipped from the 55th percentile (3 stars) to 47th, then 32nd percentile over three years. Isle Secondary also graduates 91.8% of students, above the district's 87.1% and the state's 84.9%, though its 8.1% dropout rate is still above the state's 4.2%. Isle Elementary currently has the higher all-grade math and reading proficiency of the two (38.3% each), versus Isle Secondary's 32.5% in math and 33.8% in reading. Isle Area Learning Center's test scores are suppressed by the state given its very small size, so no performance conclusion can be drawn for it.

Both tested schools remain below state averages in math and reading — Isle Elementary by 6.6 points in math and 10.3 points in reading, Isle Secondary by 12.4 and 14.8 points. Science splits: Isle Secondary's 27.3% is above district and state, while Isle Elementary's 20.6% is below both. Bright spots include Isle Secondary's 7th grade math (48% vs. state 40.3%) and Isle Elementary's 6th grade reading (53.6%, essentially the state's 53.4%). Weak spots include 8th grade at Isle Secondary (math 21.9% vs. 42.3%; reading 31.3% vs. 50%) and elementary 3rd and 5th grade reading plus 5th grade math.