Summary:
The 18 schools in Grand Forks 1 include 11 elementary, four middle, and three high schools; 17 report 2025–2026 proficiency results. The most important finding for families is how much results vary from school to school: math ranges from 27% at Valley Middle School to 77% at J Nelson Kelly Elementary School, while science results range from 20–28% to 50–58%.
J Nelson Kelly is a clear math and reading standout, with 77% in math and 74% in reading—23 and 17 points above the state, respectively. Discovery Elementary School is also strong, at 72% in math and 70% in reading, or 18 and 13 points above the state. Nathan Twining Middle School leads All Grades reading with 75–83%, at least 18 points above the state’s 57%. At the lower end, Valley scores 27% in math and 33% in reading—27 and 24 points below state results—and its science result of 20–28% is 11–19 points below the state. Science leadership is shared: Discovery, South Middle School, and J Nelson Kelly each report 50–58%.
Equal-weighted school averages rose in math and reading from 42% and 42% in 2024–2025 to 51.2–55.5% and 54.9–60.1% in 2025–2026; science fell from 48% to 35.4–46.2%. State results also rose in math and reading, so the averages do not establish that local performance moved closer to the state. SchoolDigger ranks J Nelson Kelly in the 90th percentile and Nathan Twining Middle in the 91st percentile among their school types; its district rating for Grand Forks 1 is 73rd of 129 districts, at the 43rd percentile and two stars. As context, 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligible figures were 12% at Discovery and 68% at Winship Elementary School; these figures do not explain school results.
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