Best Middle Schools in Minnesota

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Find the best Minnesota middle schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish Minnesota test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the MCA-III test scores by the Minnesota Department of Education. The most recent update was on Thursday, August 29, 2024.

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School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 545)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)
271757000809	391	Lake Of The Woods Secondary	Public	6-12	236 15th Ave SW	Baudette	56623	Lake of the Woods County	Lake Of The Woods School District	No	No	No	No	(218) 634-2510	191	9	20.1	39.8%	167 (87.4%)	5 (2.6%)	4 (2.1%)	3 (1.6%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (5.8%)	$14,856							31.7	26.2	406	15
270036712833	392	STEP Academy 6-12 - Burnsville	Public, Charter	6-8	14450 Burnhaven Dr	Burnsville	55306	Dakota County	STEP Academy	Yes	(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(651) 285-1920	0				0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()								31.5			(n/a)
270969000409	393	Cromwell-Wright Secondary	Public	7-12	5624 Highway 210	Cromwell	55726	Carlton County	Cromwell-Wright Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(218) 644-3716	156	12	13.2	30.8%	140 (89.7%)	1 (0.6%)	5 (3.2%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (3.8%)	$16,326							31.4	55.6	221	172
270732000305	394	Butterfield Secondary	Public	7-12	440 Hubbard Ave	Butterfield	56120	Watonwan County	Butterfield-Odin Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(507) 956-2771	111	8	13.4	66.7%	32 (28.8%)	0 (0.0%)	74 (66.7%)	3 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.8%)	$15,766							30.9	8	500	106
271104002788	395	Lincoln Park Middle School	Public	6-8	3215 W 3rd St	Duluth	55806	St. Louis County	Duluth Public School District	No	No	No	Yes	(218) 336-8880	524	34	15.2	66.0%	316 (60.3%)	38 (7.3%)	29 (5.5%)	2 (0.4%)	34 (6.5%)	0 (0.0%)	105 (20.0%)	$18,109							30.7	28.7	392	3
270759000327	396	Carlton Secondary	Public	6-12	405 School Ave	Carlton	55718	Carlton County	Carlton Public School District	No	No	No	No	(218) 384-4226	175	14	12.4	43.4%	131 (74.9%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (2.3%)	1 (0.6%)	27 (15.4%)	1 (0.6%)	11 (6.3%)	$13,284							30.6	54	234	162
270039505551	397	St. Cloud Math & Science Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	1025 18th St N	Saint Cloud	56303	Stearns County	Saint Cloud Math and Science Academy	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(320) 774-2201	44	0		88.6%	2 (4.5%)	41 (93.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (2.3%)								30.6			(n/a)
270039705095	398	Art & Science Academy Middle School	Public, Charter	5-8	1005 7th Avenue Court NE	Isanti	55040	Isanti County	Art and Science Academy	Yes	No	No	No	(763) 444-0342	131	11	12	51.9%	106 (80.9%)	4 (3.1%)	4 (3.1%)	5 (3.8%)	3 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (6.9%)	$7,446							30.4	52.7	243	155
271428000749	399	Houston Secondary	Public	7-12	306 W Elm St	Houston	55943	Houston County	Houston Public School District	No	No	No	No	(507) 896-5323	211	17	12.6	30.8%	199 (94.3%)	4 (1.9%)	5 (2.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.4%)	$14,858							30.4	39.8	324	75
272385002666	400	Skyview Community Middle	Public	6-8	1100 Heron Ave N	Oakdale	55128	Washington County	North St. Paul-Maplewood Oakdale	No	No	No	No	(651) 702-8000	1,004	63	16	61.6%	303 (30.2%)	176 (17.5%)	167 (16.6%)	235 (23.4%)	9 (0.9%)	2 (0.2%)	112 (11.2%)	$14,667							30.4	29	389	11

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for Minnesota

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for MN student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Homeless Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on MCA-III Math, MCA-III Reading, MCA-III Science test scores released by the Minnesota Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on August 29, 2024, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the Minnesota Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the Minnesota Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Minnesota Department of Education.