Best High Schools in Zip Code 57033

ZIP code 57033 has three high schools: West Central High School serves grades 9–12, Falls Academy serves grades 5–12, and Brighten Transition Youth Treatment Center serves grades 8–12. The most important finding is that West Central is the only school with reported test results, and it exceeded state results in five of six subject comparisons across the two reported tests.

West Central stands out on the current reported measures: its 2025–26 graduation rate was 96%, compared with 88% statewide, and its dropout rate was 1%, about 1 percentage point below the state. On the 2025–26 ACT, West Central was 8 points above the state in math and 2 points above in science, while ELA was nearly even; on 2024–25 Smarter Balanced, it led the state by 8 points in ELA, 4 in math, and 16 in science. The older figures for Falls and Brighten stand out in the other direction: both reported 0% graduation in 2023–24, with dropout rates of 36% and 69%, respectively. Those rates are not from the same year as West Central’s and do not provide a current, like-for-like ranking.

SchoolDigger gives all three schools the same West Central School District 49-7 listing: rank 58 of 126, the 54th percentile, and three stars; these are district ratings, not individual school ratings. The district’s SchoolDigger percentile rose from 48 in 2023–24 to 81 in 2024–25, then fell to 58 in 2025–26. School size and ratios also differ sharply: West Central had 408 students and a 16.9 ratio, Falls 29 and 60.4, and Brighten 6 and 2.3, in 2024–25. That year, free/reduced lunch eligible shares were 12% at West Central and 10% at Falls; Brighten reported 33% in 2023–24, so its figure is from a different year. These context measures do not establish why schools’ results differ.