Cherry Elementary, Iron MN - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Cherry Elementary

Cherry Elementary serves students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in the St. Louis County School District, one of twenty districts in the county. The school itself is located in the small community of Iron, a rural hamlet on Minnesota’s Iron Range that is officially named Iron Junction and has a tiny residential population. Residents of the area travel to nearby towns like Virginia for most goods, services, and employment. The broader regional economy is shaped by iron ore mining, with U.S. Steel’s Minntac mine in Mountain Iron serving as the dominant employer.

The school’s student body is small for an elementary serving pre-K through sixth grade. It is predominantly white, with a small share of students identifying as two or more races and a very small Hispanic population. More than two in five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a substantial share of families with lower incomes.

State testing results from the most recent school year show a mixed picture. In English language arts, proficiency rates rose with each successive tested grade, from a rate that fell below half in third grade to a strong rate in sixth grade, where roughly three out of four students met the standard. The sixth-grade ELA result is a clear strength for the school. In math, the pattern was less consistent. Third and fourth graders posted proficiency rates near the midpoint, but the rates dropped in fifth and sixth grades, where roughly one in four and one in three students, respectively, met the bar. Science results from the only tested grade, fifth, showed proficiency below one in four students, though the state changed the science assessment and cut scores that year, making direct comparisons to prior years unreliable. When combining all tested subjects and grades into a single proficiency index, Cherry Elementary’s overall performance placed it above the midpoint among districts in St. Louis County.

The school’s test results offer a few things for a family to consider. The reading trajectory is encouraging, with older students showing notably stronger outcomes. The math and science numbers in the upper elementary grades, however, are soft spots, and a parent may want to ask the school about how it supports students as they move into more advanced content in those subjects.

Because Cherry Elementary ends at sixth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. The school does not serve high school grades, so that metric does not apply.

The housing context in the area shows home values that are well below the state median but have increased at a pace faster than the state average, suggesting rising demand relative to supply. Mortgage rates at the time of this account were in the mid-single digits, and the estimated monthly mortgage payment on a home at the typical local value was moderately more expensive than renting, a pattern common in many markets. These economics matter for families considering a move to the area, as the school draws from a very rural part of the county where commuting to regional job centers is typical.

The St. Louis County School District covers multiple small towns including Babbitt, Cook, Culver, Iron, and Tower. A search for recent district-level changes that would matter to parents turned up little beyond basic directory and enrollment data, so this narrative cannot speak to any recent shifts in leadership, programming, or policy. Families considering Cherry Elementary may want to contact the district directly for current information on busing, school calendar, and any program changes.

For a family living in or moving to this part of the Iron Range, Cherry Elementary offers a small-school setting where reading achievement in the upper grades is a clear asset, while math and science proficiency in those same grades remains a topic worth discussing with the school. The community itself is quiet and rural, with limited local amenities and a regional economy tied to mining.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 48% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 54% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 21% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 634%

School 34% · District 32% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 345%

School 45% · District 37% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 42% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 558%

School 58% · District 47% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 673%

School 73% · District 63% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 27 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Science

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 18% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

This schoolST. LOUIS COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income58%Higher-income35%23 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income58%Higher-income57%1 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income77%Higher-income71%6 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income50%Higher-income53%3 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income21%8 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income54%Higher-income26%28 pp gap