Cedar Mountain Elementary, Franklin MN

Original Research by School Decision on Cedar Mountain Elementary

Cedar Mountain Elementary serves students from prekindergarten through fifth grade in the small, rural community of Franklin, Minnesota. The school is a regular public elementary school and is not a charter school. It sits within the Cedar Mountain School District, which covers this part of Renville County along the Minnesota River Valley. Franklin is a car-dependent village where most people drive alone to work, with a modest median household income and a high homeownership rate. The local economy rests on health care, manufacturing, and educational services. The town hosts an annual Catfish Derby Days festival that brings periodic street life, but day-to-day amenities are limited. No major new housing developments or recent district changes such as referendums or curriculum shifts were publicly reported, so the near-term picture for families is one of stability rather than transformation.

The student body is small, with enrollment spread fairly evenly across kindergarten through fifth grade. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Racially, the school is predominantly white, with a notable American Indian or Alaska Native presence and smaller shares of Hispanic students and students of two or more races. The school's grade band stops at fifth, so there is no graduation rate to report, and no high school outcomes apply here.

On state assessments, the picture varies by subject and grade level. In math, third graders and fourth graders posted proficiency levels that were solid, while fifth-grade math proficiency was materially lower. In English language arts, fifth graders performed well, fourth graders landed around the midway point, and third graders registered a noticeably lower proficiency share. Science results for fifth graders were a soft spot, with a smaller share reaching proficiency. The school's overall proficiency index, when averaged across tested subjects and grades, placed it in the top quartile relative to other districts in Renville County, meaning that across the board it performed higher than most of its county peers. A parent considering the school should note that while some grade-level results are strong, the marked drop in fifth-grade math and the low science proficiency are areas worth discussing with the school to understand how instruction or support differs across grade levels.

The school has a single year of assessment data available, so there is no trend line to show whether results are improving or slipping. No information was available on chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, staffing ratios, special education identification rates, or English learner populations. A parent may want to ask the school directly about class sizes, student support services, and how the school identifies and serves students with disabilities or language needs.

Housing costs in the area are well below national and state benchmarks, and the local market has seen appreciation. For a family looking for an affordable rural setting with an elementary school that posts mixed but at times strong outcomes next to its county neighbors, Cedar Mountain Elementary is a straightforward option. The key unknowns are the student-support infrastructure inside the building and the reasons behind the specific grade-level dips in assessment results.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 374%

School 74% · District 74%

▲ 19 pts above state median

Grade 482%

School 82% · District 82%

▲ 30 pts above state median

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 42%

▲ 7 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 342%

School 42% · District 42%

even with state median

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 52%

▲ 11 pts above state median

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 71%

▲ 17 pts above state median

Science

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 21%

▼ 4 pts below state median

This schoolCEDAR MOUNTAIN 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-income35%Higher-income55%20 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income40%Higher-income67%27 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income73%Higher-income69%3 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income43%Higher-income75%32 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income60%Higher-income100%40 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income67%Higher-income100%33 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income46%Higher-income39%7 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income57%Higher-income50%7 pp gap