Schools in Zip Code 56473

ZIP code 56473 covers Pillager, Minnesota, where three schools serve roughly 1,324 students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade — all part of Pillager Public School District (statewide district rank 146 of 458, 3 stars). The district runs one school per level: Pillager Elementary (PK–4, 521 students), Pillager Middle School (5–8, 433 students), and Pillager Senior High School (9–12, 370 students). Classes are smallest in the elementary grades (about 13 students per teacher) and rise to roughly 17 in the middle and high schools.

Each school stands out for something different. Pillager Middle School holds the strongest overall position at the 68th percentile (3 stars), the only school with three straight years of improvement (57th to 66th to 68th), and its reading proficiency of 53.4% beats the state's 48.6%. Pillager Senior High School is the most improved, climbing from 44th percentile and 2 stars to 63rd percentile and 3 stars, with a 95.6% graduation rate (state: 84.9%), a 1.0% dropout rate (state: 4.2%), and science proficiency of 40.6% against 25.5% statewide. Pillager Elementary posts the best math result at 56.5% versus 44.9% statewide, but is the only school losing ground, slipping from the 64th to the 56th percentile.

Two patterns matter most for families. Math proficiency drops sharply as students advance — 56.5% in elementary, 42.8% in middle, 27.7% in high school — turning an 11.6-point advantage over the state into a 17.2-point gap. Reading, by contrast, is steady at every level. Science runs the opposite way: weakest in middle school (21.4%) and strongest in high school (40.6%). Eighth grade is the clearest pressure point, falling below the state in math, reading, and science, while sixth grade math is the district's best grade-level result.