Climax-Shelly Public Schools

The Climax-Shelly Public Schools district in Minnesota operates two small schools: Climax Elementary and Climax Secondary. Both schools serve a diverse student population, with significant percentages of Hispanic and Native American students. However, the schools are struggling academically, with declining statewide rankings and test scores well below the state averages.

Climax Elementary has a small enrollment of 96 students and a high percentage of free/reduced lunch recipients at 65.62%. The school's statewide ranking has dropped from 387 out of 858 Minnesota elementary schools in 2021-2022 to 673 out of 881 in 2023-2024, and its test scores are below average, with only 22.86% of students proficient or better in Math and 28.57% in Reading. In contrast, Climax Secondary has an even smaller enrollment of 93 students and an even more concerning academic performance, with 0% proficiency in 11th grade Math and only 5.56% proficiency in Math across all grades.

Despite the academic challenges, both schools have small student-teacher ratios, with Climax Elementary at 9.5 to 1 and Climax Secondary at 7.8 to 1. Additionally, Climax Secondary has a relatively high graduation rate of 92.3% and a 0% dropout rate, suggesting the school is able to retain and support its students through graduation, despite their overall academic struggles.