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)
270027803617	181	Southside Family Charter School	Public, Charter	K-8	4500 Clinton Ave S	Minneapolis	55419	Hennepin County	Southside Family Charter School	Yes	No	No	Yes	(612) 872-8322	115	15	7.7	53.0%	56 (48.7%)	26 (22.6%)	14 (12.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (4.3%)	14 (12.2%)	$13,946							62.3	48.8	270	89
270023102042	182	Jackson County Central Middle	Public	6-8	703 Mill Road E	Lakefield	56150	Jackson County	Jackson County Central School District	No	No	No	No	(507) 662-6625	236	16	14.6	39.4%	200 (84.7%)	5 (2.1%)	17 (7.2%)	2 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (5.1%)	$10,848							62.1	60.3	192	10
270366000170	183	Barnesville Secondary	Public	6-12	302 3rd St SE	Barnesville	56514	Clay County	Barnesville Public School District	No	No	No	No	(218) 354-2228	379	23	16.4	22.4%	341 (90.0%)	4 (1.1%)	14 (3.7%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (4.7%)	$11,864							62	82.1	65	118
270975000417	184	Crosby-Ironton Secondary	Public	7-12	711 Poplar St	Crosby	56441	Crow Wing County	Crosby-Ironton Public School District	No	No	No	No	(218) 545-8802	461	26	17.4	45.6%	423 (91.8%)	2 (0.4%)	10 (2.2%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	24 (5.2%)	$13,420							62	72.9	106	78
270015000652	185	6-12th Grade Building	Public	6-12	712 3rd St	Graceville	56240	Big Stone County	Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley	No	No	No	Yes	(320) 748-7233	130	10	13.2	26.9%	120 (92.3%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (3.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (3.1%)	$16,894							62	70.7	123	62
273207001941	186	Rockford Middle	Public	5-8	6051 Ash St	Rockford	55373	Wright County	Rockford Public School District	No	No	No	No	(763) 477-5831	463	27	16.8	30.9%	351 (75.8%)	30 (6.5%)	50 (10.8%)	11 (2.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (4.5%)	$10,081							61.9	71.5	117	69
270012303350	187	Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Middle	Public	5-8	8700 County Road 6 SW	Howard Lake	55349	Wright County	Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted	No	No	No	No	(320) 543-4660	399	21	19.2	32.6%	358 (89.7%)	4 (1.0%)	23 (5.8%)	3 (0.8%)	2 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (2.3%)	$8,038							61.8	63.7	170	17
273003001272	188	Princeton Middle School	Public	6-8	1100 4th Ave N	Princeton	55371	Mille Lacs County	Princeton Public School District	No	No	No	No	(763) 389-6704	739	40	18.5	35.2%	674 (91.2%)	2 (0.3%)	17 (2.3%)	8 (1.1%)	5 (0.7%)	1 (0.1%)	32 (4.3%)	$10,433							61.8	70.1	128	60
270031504325	189	Lionsgate Academy - Minnetonka	Public, Charter	7-12	5605 Green Circle Drive	Minnetonka	55343	Hennepin County	Lionsgate Academy	Yes	No	No	No	(612) 217-0436	149	35	4.2	28.9%	105 (70.5%)	13 (8.7%)	8 (5.4%)	7 (4.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (10.7%)	$55,991							61.7	45.8	289	100
271152004645	190	Memorial Middle School	Public	6-8	600 E Harvey St	Ely	55731	St. Louis County	Ely Public School District	No	No	No	Yes	(218) 365-6166	159	8	19.3	35.8%	150 (94.3%)	1 (0.6%)	2 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (3.8%)	$7,566							61.1	63.2	173	17

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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:

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

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