Summary:
ZIP code 56343 covers Kensington, Minnesota, and contains just one listed public school — West Central Area South Elementary, an elementary campus serving prekindergarten through grade 4 with 138 students, part of the West Central Area district. Because it is the only school in the ZIP, there is no in-area peer to compare against; the useful yardsticks are the district and the state, and by both of those the school looks strong.
In 2025‑2026 the school posted 69.2% math proficiency and 68.4% reading proficiency, well above district figures of 47.6% and 55.8% and state figures of 44.9% and 48.6%. The reading result is the biggest story: a year earlier, reading stood at 47.06%, below both the district and the state, so this is a reversal rather than a continuation. Math, already ahead of the district and state, improved by about 8 points. The school's state rank has climbed for three straight years — 583rd of 881 (34th percentile, 2 stars) in 2023‑2024, 370th (58th percentile, 3 stars) in 2024‑2025, and 118th of 869 (86th percentile, 4 stars) in 2025‑2026. On state tests, fourth graders were the strongest group, outperforming the state by 22.6 points in math and 23.4 in reading, while third grade math (61.9%) is the one spot where the school trails its own district.
Two things are worth keeping in mind. With only 138 students in grades PK–4, grade-level percentages rest on small numbers of test-takers, so a single year's swing is best read as a promising signal rather than a settled level. Context data are also limited — free/reduced lunch (39.86%) and a student-teacher ratio of 11.1 are available for 2024‑2025 only, and no subgroup breakdowns are reported. Overall, though, this is a school on a clear multi-indicator upswing.
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