Summary:
ZIP code 56481 covers Verndale, Minnesota, and is home to two schools serving students from preschool through 12th grade: Verndale Elementary (PK–6, 253 students) and Verndale Secondary (7–12, 231 students), both part of the Verndale Public School District. There is no separate middle school and no alternative school in this area. The district as a whole is ranked 356th of 458 districts in Minnesota, placing it in the 22nd percentile with 1 star.
The two schools are heading in opposite directions. Verndale Elementary is the standout, ranked in the 47th percentile with 2 stars and improving from the 36th to the 43rd to the 47th percentile over three years. Its all-grade reading proficiency of 51.6% is above the state's 48.6%, and it beats the district in math, reading, and science. Verndale Secondary ranks in the 16th percentile with 1 star, down from the 43rd percentile in 2023–24, and falls below both the district and the state in every tested subject — science is just 5.6% versus the state's 25.5%.
Comparing them directly, the elementary school outperformed the secondary school by 27.6 points in math, 21.8 points in reading, and 13.2 points in science. Science is the weakest subject across both schools. One bright spot at the secondary level is a 91.4% graduation rate, above the state's 84.9%, though its 5.7% dropout rate is above the state's 4.2%. Free/reduced-lunch rates (41.5% and 46.75%) and student-teacher ratios (11.8 and 11.9) are similar at both schools, so the performance gap is not mirrored by these inputs. The district's 1-star rating masks a real split: improving the district overall will likely depend most on lifting secondary math and science.
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