Summary:
ZIP code 56479 is home to exactly one middle school: Staples-Motley Middle School, which serves grades 5–8 and enrolls 284 students in Staples, MN, as part of the Staples-Motley School District. The district is ranked 237 of 458 Minnesota districts, placing it at the 48th percentile with 2 stars, while the school itself ranks 229 of 546 schools, or the 58th percentile, with 3 stars. That is an upward trajectory: the school moved from 47th percentile and 2 stars in 2023–2024 to 51st percentile in 2024–2025 and 58th percentile in 2025–2026.
Parents should know the school's strengths are concentrated in specific grades and subjects. Eighth grade math is a bright spot at 50.6% proficient versus 42.3% statewide, a gap of 8.3 points above state. Sixth grade math is also above state at 43.9% versus 39.5%, and sixth grade reading is above state at 56.1% versus 53.4%. Seventh grade math sits exactly at the state average of 40.3%. Overall math proficiency has been stable, moving only from 38.33% to 38.3% year over year, though at 38.3% it remains below the district's 39.9% and the state's 44.9%.
The concerns are equally clear. Fifth grade is the weakest point, falling below state in every subject: math at 16.2% versus 41.9%, reading at 30.9% versus 54.5%, and science at 13.2% versus 25.9%. Seventh grade reading is 20.8% against a 43.5% state figure, and all-grades reading dropped from 41.46% to 37.4% while the state declined only about 1 point. Science is the lowest and fastest-falling subject at 12.6% proficient versus 25.5% statewide, down from 20.77% the prior year. More than half of students, 51.76%, qualify for free or reduced lunch, and the student-teacher ratio is 14.6 — context worth weighing when reading these gaps.
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