Summary:
ZIP code 56540 — Fertile, Minnesota — is served by a single K–12 system, the Fertile-Beltrami School District, which runs two buildings at the same address (210 S Mill St): Fertile-Beltrami Elementary serving PK–6 with 249 students, and Fertile-Beltrami Secondary serving grades 7–12 with 246 students. Both schools hold 4 stars, and the district ranks in the 82nd percentile of 458 Minnesota districts.
The elementary is the district's academic strength in the early grades. Its all-grades math score of 62% is 17.1 points above the state's 44.9%, and reading at 60.8% is 12.2 points above the state's 48.6%. Grades 3–5 post math results of 68–73.3%, comfortably above state, but 6th-grade math falls to 36.1% against a state mark of 39.5%. Science is the clear weak spot: 16% for the school versus 25.5% statewide, a gap driven entirely by the 5th grade, where those same students scored 68% in both math and reading. The secondary performs closer to or slightly above state in reading (51.2% vs 48.6%) and science (28.6% vs 25.5%), and slightly below in math (42% vs 44.9%). Its 8th grade trails the state in all three subjects, with reading 17.5 points behind.
Where the secondary truly stands out is completion: a 93.6% graduation rate against the state's 84.9%, and a 2.1% dropout rate roughly half the state's 4.2% — a strong result given a 17.3 student–teacher ratio, notably higher than the elementary's 12.2. Test scores also improved in all three subjects year over year. The two schools earn their 4 stars differently: the elementary through early-grade achievement, the secondary through outcomes and upward momentum.
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