Summary:
ZIP code 56437 covers the rural community of Bertha, Minnesota, and is home to two public schools — Bertha Elementary (PK–6) and Bertha Secondary (7–12) — which together serve 506 students as the full PK–12 system of the Bertha-Hewitt Public School District (ranked 175th of 458 Minnesota districts, 62nd percentile, 3 stars).
The two schools perform very differently. Bertha Elementary is the stronger school in absolute terms: its math proficiency of 55.5% is 10.6 points above the state (44.9%), with 3rd grade math (69.8%) and 4th grade math (69.0%) the highest figures anywhere in this data set, and 4th grade reading (61.9%) running 13.1 points above the state. Bertha Secondary trails the state in math (28.7% vs 44.9%) and reading (41.0% vs 48.6%), but it is the biggest mover in the district — rising to the 73rd percentile and a 4-star rating after two 2-star years — and it graduates 90.0% of students, 5.1 points above the state's 84.9%, with a dropout rate of 2.5% against the state's 4.2%.
Within Bertha Elementary, proficiency drops sharply as students move up: math falls from 69.8% in 3rd grade to 30.0% in 6th grade, and 6th grade reading (37.5%) is 15.9 points below state. Bertha Secondary shows a similar shape in reverse — weak 7th and 8th grade results, then 10th grade reading (50%) and end-of-course science (42.9%) above state. Both schools serve substantial low-income populations (51.19% and 45.07% eligible for free/reduced lunch). The key things to watch next year are whether the secondary's gains hold and whether the elementary's 6th-grade dip is a one-year anomaly or the start of a trend.
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