Summary:
ZIP code 56482 is home to six schools serving students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, split between the larger Wadena-Deer Creek School District and the much smaller Freshwater Education District. Total listed enrollment is 1,114 students, and the Wadena-Deer Creek schools account for about 96.9% of that — roughly 1,079 students — while the Freshwater schools together enroll only 35. The largest school is Wadena-Deer Creek Senior High with 470 students, and the smallest is Elm Tree Academy with 9.
Among the Wadena-Deer Creek schools, the academics split by subject. Wadena-Deer Creek 5th and 6th Grade has the clearest strength in reading, beating its district in both years and exceeding the state in 2024–2025; its science results are also solid. Wadena-Deer Creek Senior High stands out in End-of-Course science at 47.1%, well above the state's 35.0%, and improved from the 53rd to the 59th percentile, though below its 69th percentile mark from 2023–2024. Wadena-Deer Creek Elementary shows relative math strength against its district — above district in both years and above state in 2024–2025 — but low reading, with 27.7% in 2025–2026 versus a state value of 48.6%, and 1-star rankings each of the past three years.
Two concerns stand out for parents: the Senior High's dropout rate of 9.8%, more than double the state's 4.2%, alongside a graduation rate of 80.2% versus the state's 84.9%; and math below state across all three Wadena-Deer Creek schools in 2025–2026. The Freshwater schools — Leaf River Academy, White Pine Academy, and Elm Tree Academy — have high free/reduced lunch rates (66.67% to 73.33%) and very small enrollments, and much of their test data is suppressed by the state. Those values should be treated as unknown, not as zero or as evidence of failure.
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