Summary:
ZIP code 56362 covers Paynesville, Minnesota, and contains exactly one elementary school: Paynesville Area Elementary, a PK–5 school with 429 students in Paynesville Area Schools.
Because it is the only elementary school in the area, there is no other local school to compare it with, so the useful comparisons are against its district, the state, and its own past results. On the 2025–2026 all-grade figures, the school outperforms its district in every subject: Math 50 vs 39.4, Reading 55.5 vs 46.4, and Science 24.1 vs 15.2. Against the state, Math (50 vs 44.9) and Reading (55.5 vs 48.6) are above, while Science (24.1) is slightly below the state figure of 25.5. The standout result in the data is 4th-grade Reading at 64.3, which is 15.5 points above the 4th-grade state figure of 48.8. Third-grade Math at 61.7 is also 3.8 points above state. Elsewhere results are mixed: 4th-grade Math and 5th-grade Math are 1.7 and 3.9 points below state, and 3rd- and 5th-grade Reading sit essentially at state.
Context and recent trends: 29.6% free/reduced lunch, student-teacher ratio 14.4 (about 30 teachers for 429 students). All-grade proficiency fell in all three subjects from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026 — Science dropped 12.41 points, Math 7.69, Reading 4.12. Rank fell from 215 of 881, 76th percentile, 4 stars in 2023–2024 to 359 of 869, 59th percentile, 3 stars in 2025–2026. Science is the clearest weakness. The district is ranked 279 of 458, 39th percentile, 2 stars, so the school is a relative strength within its district.
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