Best Public Schools in Zip Code 56661

ZIP code 56661 has two public schools in the South Koochiching School District, both at the same Northome address, forming a PK–12 pipeline: Northome Elementary serves PK–6 and Northome Secondary serves 7–12. Total enrollment is about 203 students. The South Koochiching School District ranks 400 of 458 Minnesota districts, in the 13th percentile with 1 star, and both schools are also rated 1 star. Free/reduced lunch is high: 68.63% at the elementary and 54.46% at the secondary school.

Parents comparing the two schools should know that Northome Elementary is stronger in math and reading. Its all-grade math proficiency was 23.6% versus 4.4% at Northome Secondary, and reading was 38.2% versus 25.0%. The elementary school beats the district in both subjects but remains below the state. Science splits them: Northome Elementary’s all-grade science was only 9.1%, below the district’s 16.7% and the state’s 25.5%, while Northome Secondary’s all-grade science was 19.4%, above the district, and its End-of-Course science was 33.3%, close to the state’s 35.0%. Northome Secondary also had a 100.0% graduation rate and 0.0% dropout rate in 2024–2025, far better than the state’s 84.9% and 4.2%, though its math is an extreme weakness: all-grade math was 4.4%, with 8th-grade math and 11th-grade math at 0%. The state suppressed 7th-grade math and reading at Northome Secondary, so those are unknown, not zero.

Recent trends show both schools declined from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026 in all-grade math, reading, and science. The largest drops were Northome Elementary science, down 10.9 percentage points, and Northome Secondary math, down 8.42 points; the district also declined in all three subjects. Northome Elementary’s rank fell from the 31st percentile and 2 stars in 2023–2024 to the 19th percentile and 1 star in 2025–2026. Northome Secondary improved from the 15th percentile in 2022–2023 to the 26th percentile in 2025–2026 but remains 1 star. With roughly 100 students per school, grade-level percentages can swing sharply. Overall, the clearest strengths are Northome Secondary’s graduation, dropout, and science results, while the biggest red flags are Northome Secondary’s very low math and Northome Elementary’s very low science.