Independence Elementary

Summary:

Independence Elementary is a public elementary school located in Big Lake, Minnesota, serving grades 3-5 with a total enrollment of 660 students. The school is part of the Big Lake Public School District, which is ranked 228 out of 463 districts in Minnesota and has a 3-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Independence Elementary stands out for its higher percentage of White students (77.58%) compared to the state average (67.4%), as well as its strong academic performance in Math and Science proficiency, outperforming the state and district averages. However, the school faces challenges with lower Reading proficiency compared to nearby schools like Eastview Education Center and Swan River Montessori Charter School. Additionally, the school has seen a growing population of economically disadvantaged students, with the percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch increasing from 20.79% in 2020-2021 to 39.7% in 2022-2023.

Interestingly, virtual schools in the Monticello Public School District and the Big Lake Public School District, such as 882 Online K-5 and Big Lake Online K-5, have significantly lower academic performance compared to Independence Elementary and their respective districts. This suggests that the in-person learning environment at Independence Elementary may be a key factor in its academic success.


Detail:

Public 3-5

 701 Minnesota Ave
       Big Lake, MN  55309-8888


(763) 262-2537

District: Big Lake Public School District

SchoolDigger Rank:
457th of 881 Minnesota Elementary Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures:  $11,086 Help


Students who attend Independence Elementary usually attend:

Middle:    Big Lake Middle School
High:    Big Lake Senior High

Student/teacher ratio:  15.6 Help
Number of students:  660

Racial breakdown:

White:
77.6%
Hispanic:
7.7%
Two or more races:
6.7%
more

Free/discounted lunch recipients:  39.7% Help


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Performance Trends
Help
Compare Details Independence Elementary ranks worse than 51.9% of elementary schools in Minnesota. (See more...)
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Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 52.79. (See more...)
Student Body
Help
Compare Details Racial makeup is: White (77.6%), Hispanic (7.7%), two or more races (6.7%). (See more...)
Help
Compare Details 39.7% of students are receiving a free or discounted lunch. (See more...)
Teachers
Help
Compare Details The student/teacher ratio at Independence Elementary is 15.6. (See more...)
Help
Compare Independence Elementary employs 42 full-time teachers.
Finance
Help
Compare Details The average total spent per student at Independence Elementary is $11,086.
Schooldigger 2024 Rankings:

Independence Elementary:

SchoolDigger ranks Independence Elementary 457th of 881 Minnesota public elementary schools. (See Independence Elementary in the ranking list.)

Elementary School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:


Multi-racial students:
English Language Learner students:
Special Education students:
Low Socio Economic Status students:
Female students:
Male students:
African American students:
Hispanic students:
White students:


Big Lake Public School District:

SchoolDigger ranks Big Lake Public School District 228th of 463 Minnesota school districts. (See district ranking list.)


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Rank History for Independence Elementary

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Compare

Rank History for all students at Independence Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools MN State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2003 59.06 317th 674 53.0%
2004 66.24 225th 676 66.7%
2005 64.87 236th 685 65.5%
2006 54.85 412th 756 45.5%
2007 69.49 213th 777 72.6%
2008 67.35 245th 781 68.6%
2010 56.86 432nd 803 46.2%
2011 51.15 495th 814 39.2%
2012 68.00 264th 820 67.8%
2013 56.16 425th 824 48.4%
2014 59.00 397th 826 51.9%
2015 43.53 574th 840 31.7%
2016 68.36 280th 848 67.0%
2017 67.54 305th 853 64.2%
2018 68.65 269th 847 68.2%
2019 72.97 217th 870 75.1%
2021 64.42 312th 869 64.1%
2022 65.12 324th 858 62.2%
2023 58.64 385th 845 54.4%
2024 52.79 457th 881 48.1%
See the entire list of Minnesota Elementary School Rankings!

Rank History for Multi-racial students at Independence Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools MN State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 64.31 32nd 98 67.3%
2019 56.51 41st 96 57.3%
2022 36.55 58th 87 33.3%
2023 33.62 54th 77 29.9%
2024 26.72 64th 81 21.0%
See the entire list of Best Minnesota Elementary Schools for Multi-racial Students!

Rank History for English Language Learner students at Independence Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools MN State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2023 33.42 200th 276 27.5%
2024 52.70 105th 303 65.3%
See the entire list of Best Minnesota Elementary Schools for English Language Learner Students!

Rank History for Special Education students at Independence Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools MN State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 72.68 95th 463 79.5%
2019 71.05 112th 515 78.3%
2021 38.04 285th 417 31.7%
2022 61.19 166th 500 66.8%
2023 58.64 182nd 524 65.3%
2024 51.08 257th 572 55.1%
See the entire list of Best Minnesota Elementary Schools for Special Education Students!

Rank History for Low Socio Economic Status students at Independence Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools MN State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 79.21 84th 728 88.5%
2019 79.13 84th 740 88.6%
2021 68.66 178th 683 73.9%
2022 71.29 145th 663 78.1%
2023 65.45 244th 774 68.5%
2024 58.65 313th 793 60.5%
See the entire list of Best Minnesota Elementary Schools for Low Socio Economic Status Students!

Rank History for Female students at Independence Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools MN State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 65.66 287th 774 62.9%
2019 65.80 287th 787 63.5%
2021 57.68 362nd 783 53.8%
2022 64.04 306th 799 61.7%
2023 58.11 354th 787 55.0%
2024 54.14 403rd 809 50.2%
See the entire list of Best Minnesota Elementary Schools for Female Students!

Rank History for Male students at Independence Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools MN State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 68.54 247th 779 68.3%
2019 75.99 161st 798 79.8%
2021 65.43 270th 784 65.6%
2022 62.83 308th 808 61.9%
2023 55.98 377th 799 52.8%
2024 48.32 477th 826 42.3%
See the entire list of Best Minnesota Elementary Schools for Male Students!

Rank History for African American students at Independence Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools MN State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2021 64.83 65th 227 71.4%
2022 60.97 91st 282 67.7%
2023 66.38 74th 279 73.5%
2024 58.47 121st 310 61.0%
See the entire list of Best Minnesota Elementary Schools for African American Students!

Rank History for Hispanic students at Independence Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools MN State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 76.45 33rd 220 85.0%
2019 72.17 39th 219 82.2%
2021 91.85 4th 153 97.4%
2022 89.39 10th 209 95.2%
2023 75.50 33rd 214 84.6%
2024 71.63 48th 249 80.7%
See the entire list of Best Minnesota Elementary Schools for Hispanic Students!

Rank History for White students at Independence Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools MN State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 48.19 403rd 712 43.4%
2019 60.27 274th 722 62.0%
2021 46.16 404th 710 43.1%
2022 49.58 392nd 725 45.9%
2023 39.90 459th 712 35.5%
2024 33.42 536th 730 26.6%
See the entire list of Best Minnesota Elementary Schools for White Students!

Data source: test scores: Minnesota Department of Education, rankings: SchoolDigger.com

As you review the school rankings data, please be aware that some of the information from certain demographics is missing. The reason for this omission is that the data has been redacted from the source data itself due to low population samples in these specific demographic groups.

Redacting data from low population samples is a necessary step to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the results, as small sample sizes may not be representative of the broader population. Additionally, this measure helps protect the privacy of individuals belonging to these demographic groups.

Independence Elementary Test Scores
Tests: 
  
Grades: 
  
Years: 
  
Group by: 
District Scores:
State Scores:    
  
Subgroup: 






Data source: Minnesota Department of Education

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Enrollment information for Independence Elementary

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Compare
Year White African American Asian Hispanic American Indian Pacific Islander Two or More Races Not Specified Total
1988 710 1 7 0 1 n/a n/a 0 719
1989 709 4 7 3 2 n/a n/a 0 725
1990 732 3 8 3 1 n/a n/a 0 747
1991 769 1 4 1 1 n/a n/a 0 776
1992 794 2 8 1 0 n/a n/a 0 805
1993 825 3 3 2 0 n/a n/a 0 833
1994 887 5 5 6 2 n/a n/a 0 905
1995 714 4 8 8 2 n/a n/a 0 736
1996 714 4 8 8 2 n/a n/a 0 736
1997 785 1 7 4 5 n/a n/a 0 802
1998 805 3 10 11 3 n/a n/a 14 846
1999 1055 3 9 14 6 n/a n/a 0 1087
2000 1211 5 8 13 11 n/a n/a 0 1248
2001 1376 11 9 24 17 n/a n/a 0 1437
2002 1513 15 15 30 24 n/a n/a 0 1597
2003 1513 15 15 30 24 n/a n/a 0 1597
2004 764 10 8 21 12 n/a n/a 0 815
2005 750 11 11 20 10 n/a n/a 0 802
2006 754 20 9 31 15 n/a n/a 0 829
2007 874 41 14 40 12 n/a n/a 0 981
2008 887 45 15 39 13 n/a n/a 0 999
2009 867 47 15 41 8 n/a n/a 0 978
2010 895 41 19 36 6 n/a n/a 0 997
2011 847 28 18 41 5 0 28 0 967
2012 792 15 15 33 5 0 32 0 892
2013 754 12 14 37 2 0 31 0 850
2014 761 15 13 28 1 0 41 0 859
2015 750 13 12 24 1 0 47 0 847
2016 727 19 11 25 2 0 45 0 829
2017 644 18 13 22 4 0 37 0 738
2018 635 21 13 40 5 0 39 0 753
2019 585 16 13 43 5 0 37 0 699
2020 563 30 14 43 3 0 39 0 692
2021 507 44 9 38 4 0 33 0 635
2022 485 32 9 46 2 0 43 0 617
2023 512 37 11 51 5 0 44 0 660

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Enrollment/Ethnicity

For more information about how the Department of Education defines ethnicity, see Defining Race and Ethnicity Data, National Center for Education Statistics

Students eligible for free or discounted lunch at Independence Elementary

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Compare
Year # Students Full-time Teachers Student/Teacher ratio % Free/Discounted Lunch
1988 719 31.1 23.1 10.3
1989 725 37.1 19.5 12.1
1990 747 36.8 20.2 10.6
1991 776 39.0 19.8 7.1
1992 805 39.6 20.3 13.4
1993 833 42.5 19.6 16.9
1994 905 41.1 22.0 15.7
1995 736 39.5 18.6 12.4
1996 736 39.5 18.6 12.4
1997 802 40.0 20.1 10
1998 846 n/a 0.0 11.7
1999 1087 60.0 18.1 11.2
2000 1248 65.8 19.0 18.2
2001 1437 80.8 17.8 19.8
2002 1597 91.2 17.5 17.8
2003 1597 91.2 17.5 17.8
2004 815 47.4 17.2 20.7
2005 802 48.4 16.6 19.8
2006 829 44.8 18.5 20.5
2007 981 53.0 18.5 22
2008 999 50.2 19.9 21.7
2009 978 48.4 20.2 25.4
2010 997 48.5 20.5 29.9
2011 967 51.5 18.7 31.2
2012 892 49.1 18.1 29.7
2013 850 46.1 18.4 30
2014 859 44.4 19.3 28.5
2015 847 47.0 18.0 26.9
2016 829 43.0 19.2 27.1
2017 738 43.3 17.0 25.7
2018 753 43.5 17.2 26.3
2019 699 43.3 16.1 25.3
2020 692 41.2 16.7 28.9
2021 635 42.1 15.0 20.8
2022 617 41.6 14.8 22
2023 660 42.0 15.6 39.7

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Students eligible for discounted/free lunch:

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides low-cost or free meals to students in U.S. public and nonprofit private schools based on household income. Those with incomes below 130% of the poverty line receive free lunch, while those between 130% and 185% qualify for reduced-price lunch. The percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch serves as a marker for poverty, as it reflects the socioeconomic status of families in a given school or district. A higher FRPL rate typically indicates a higher concentration of low-income families, suggesting that the school or district may face additional challenges in providing adequate resources and support for student success.

Student/Teacher Ratio Independence Elementary

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Compare
Year # Students Full-time Teachers Student/Teacher ratio % Free/Discounted Lunch
1988 719 31.1 23.1 10.3
1989 725 37.1 19.5 12.1
1990 747 36.8 20.2 10.6
1991 776 39.0 19.8 7.1
1992 805 39.6 20.3 13.4
1993 833 42.5 19.6 16.9
1994 905 41.1 22.0 15.7
1995 736 39.5 18.6 12.4
1996 736 39.5 18.6 12.4
1997 802 40.0 20.1 10
1998 846 n/a 0.0 11.7
1999 1087 60.0 18.1 11.2
2000 1248 65.8 19.0 18.2
2001 1437 80.8 17.8 19.8
2002 1597 91.2 17.5 17.8
2003 1597 91.2 17.5 17.8
2004 815 47.4 17.2 20.7
2005 802 48.4 16.6 19.8
2006 829 44.8 18.5 20.5
2007 981 53.0 18.5 22
2008 999 50.2 19.9 21.7
2009 978 48.4 20.2 25.4
2010 997 48.5 20.5 29.9
2011 967 51.5 18.7 31.2
2012 892 49.1 18.1 29.7
2013 850 46.1 18.4 30
2014 859 44.4 19.3 28.5
2015 847 47.0 18.0 26.9
2016 829 43.0 19.2 27.1
2017 738 43.3 17.0 25.7
2018 753 43.5 17.2 26.3
2019 699 43.3 16.1 25.3
2020 692 41.2 16.7 28.9
2021 635 42.1 15.0 20.8
2022 617 41.6 14.8 22
2023 660 42.0 15.6 39.7

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Student-Teacher Ratio

Student/teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of students by the total number of full-time equivalent teachers. Please note that a smaller student/teacher ratio does not necessarily translate to smaller class size. In some instances, schools hire teachers part time, and some teachers are hired for specialized instruction with very small class sizes. These and other factors contribute to the student/teacher ratio. Note: For private schools, Student/teacher ratio may not include Pre-Kindergarten.
Finances

Per Pupil Expenditures for Independence Elementary

Help

YearTotal Expenditures Per Pupil
2019 $11,086

Data source: Minnesota Department of Education
Pre and Post Pandemic Data

Impact of COVID-19 on Independence Elementary

The coronavirus has had a profound impact on education in America. Learning shifted online overnight, attendance numbers dwindled, and enrollment decreased. SchoolDigger.com is making it easier for you to better assess how COVID-19 has impacted your school. Through the collection of pre-pandemic (2019) and current data, SchoolDigger.com is sharing test scores, enrollment numbers and school demographics from schools across the country – and we make it easy to see how impacted schools compare locally and statewide.

Rankings

Rank
Pre-pandemic (2018-2019)
Rank
Post pandemic (2022-2023)
Change (%)
Ranks 217th of 870 Elementary schoolsRanks 385th of 845 Elementary schools
 20.6%

Test Scores

% proficient
Pre-pandemic (2018-2019)
% proficient
Post pandemic (2022-2023)
Change (%)
3rd Grade Math (Independence Elementary)7355.6
 17.4%
   3rd Grade Math (Big Lake Public School District)7355.3
 17.7%
   3rd Grade Math (Minnesota)65.659.1
 6.5%
3rd Grade Reading (Independence Elementary)58.242.7
 15.5%
   3rd Grade Reading (Big Lake Public School District)58.242.8
 15.4%
   3rd Grade Reading (Minnesota)54.647.4
 7.2%
4th Grade Math (Independence Elementary)69.952.8
 17.1%
   4th Grade Math (Big Lake Public School District)69.952
 17.9%
   4th Grade Math (Minnesota)63.957.1
 6.8%
4th Grade Reading (Independence Elementary)63.941.2
 22.7%
   4th Grade Reading (Big Lake Public School District)63.940.7
 23.2%
   4th Grade Reading (Minnesota)55.448.4
 7.1%
5th Grade Math (Independence Elementary)68.461
 7.3%
   5th Grade Math (Big Lake Public School District)68.460.4
 8%
   5th Grade Math (Minnesota)5244.4
 7.6%
5th Grade Reading (Independence Elementary)72.564.3
 8.2%
   5th Grade Reading (Big Lake Public School District)72.564.1
 8.5%
   5th Grade Reading (Minnesota)65.858.7
 7%
5th Grade Science (Independence Elementary)70.756.8
 13.9%
   5th Grade Science (Big Lake Public School District)70.756.2
 14.5%
   5th Grade Science (Minnesota)54.948.4
 6.5%

Student Body

Number of students
Pre-pandemic (2018-2019)
Number of students
Post pandemic (2022-2023)
Change (%)
Total Students699660
 5.6%
African American1637
 131.3%
American Indian55
Asian1311
 15.4%
Hispanic4351
 18.6%
Pacific Islander00
White585512
 12.5%
Two or More Races3744
 18.9%
% Free/Discounted Lunch Recipients25.3%39.7%
 14.4%


Schools Near Independence Elementary









Frequently Asked Questions about Independence Elementary

In the 2022-23 school year, 660 students attended Independence Elementary.

Independence Elementary ranks 457th of 881 Minnesota elementary schools. SchoolDigger rates this school 2 stars out of 5.

Students at Independence Elementary are 78% White, 8% Hispanic, 7% Two or more races, 6% African American, 2% Asian.

Students who attend Independence Elementary usually go on to attend:

Middle : Big Lake Middle School
High : Big Lake Senior High


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

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.





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