Schools in Zip Code 56701

Zip code 56701 covers Thief River Falls, Minnesota, and contains four schools serving students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade — one elementary, one middle, and two high schools — all within the Thief River Falls School District, with a combined enrollment of 1,725 students. The district is ranked 241 out of 458 in Minnesota, placing it at the 47th percentile with 2 stars, and its 2025–2026 proficiency sits below the state in all three tested subjects: math at 37% versus 44.9%, reading at 43.8% versus 48.6%, and science at 21.3% versus 25.5%.

Challenger Elementary is the largest school at 727 students and the local academic standout, with math proficiency of 48.2% (above district and state) and reading at 46.9% (above district, slightly below state). Lincoln Senior High pairs a 95.3% graduation rate and a 3.1% dropout rate with the strongest science score in the area at 32.8%, though its math (28.8%) and reading (37.4%) trail the district and state. Franklin Middle has the clearest academic outlier: science proficiency of 10.8%, roughly half the district's rate and far below the state's. Northwest Area Learning Center enrolls only 23 students, has an 86.96% free/reduced-lunch rate, reports 0% math proficiency, and has a science score suppressed by the state — unknown, not zero.

Strengths differ by school rather than following one pattern: Challenger leads in math and reading, Lincoln in science and completion metrics, and Franklin's reading (43.1%) is close to district levels even as its science lags. Rank trends also diverge — Lincoln improved from the 34th to the 49th percentile over three years, Franklin declined from the 54th to the 44th, and Challenger moved from 44th to 54th and back to 48th. Student-to-teacher ratios range from 13.3 at Challenger to 17.4 at Franklin. Families should weigh completion rates alongside test scores, since the two tell different stories.