Summary:
Three schools in ZIP code 57642 serve students from prekindergarten through grade 12: McLaughlin Elementary (PK–5, 203 students), McLaughlin Middle (grades 6–8, 85 students), and McLaughlin High (grades 9–12, 155 students); all are in the same district. The most important area-wide finding is that reported proficiency is far below state results across every available school and subject comparison: 2025–2026 ELA results were 26 to 40 points below the state at Elementary and Middle, and math results were 34 to 36 points below; in 2024–2025, all three schools were 29 to 40 points below in ELA and 36 to 40 points below in math.
McLaughlin Middle leads the reported 2025–2026 all-grades results, with 23% proficient in ELA and 9% in math, compared with 9% and 7% at McLaughlin Elementary—gaps of 14 points in ELA and 2 points in math. Elementary has the lower reported result in both subjects, though Middle also remains well below the state. In 2024–2025, McLaughlin High had the strongest ELA result at 22%, versus 14% at Middle and 11% at Elementary; its math result was lowest at 3%. These all-grades comparisons cover different grade spans, and High School’s 2025–2026 school scores are suppressed.
Recent changes favor Middle but not Elementary: from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, Middle rose 9 points in ELA and 2 in math, while Elementary fell 3 points in ELA and 1 in math. For those two schools, the average ELA gap to the state narrowed by 5 points, while the math gap narrowed by less than 1 point. SchoolDigger placed Elementary in the 6th percentile in 2024–2025, High in the 5th percentile in 2024–2025, and Middle in the 5th percentile in 2025–2026; each received zero stars in its listed ranking. Elementary’s student-teacher ratio was 10.9, compared with 8.1 at Middle. Both reported all students receive free meals (Community Eligibility) for 2024–2025; High reported 1.9% directly certified for free meals that year, a different measure.
Thank you for your feedback!