The top reported proficiency rate is 43% in Math. The lowest is 35% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Winsted Elementary
Winsted Elementary serves prekindergarten through fourth grade in the small town of Winsted, Minnesota, part of the Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted public school district. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. Because it spans only early elementary grades, there are no high school outcomes such as a graduation rate to report, and state testing is limited to the grades that are assessed. The school’s own profile is best understood in the context of the community it anchors.
Winsted sits about a short drive west of the Twin Cities metro area, on the west shore of Winsted Lake. It is a small town with a mix of residential neighborhoods and local businesses. The city’s website describes it as a growing community that retains rural charm while offering professional services and recreational amenities. Parks are distributed throughout town, with picnic shelters, playgrounds, baseball fields, a swimming beach, and an amphitheater. The Luce Line State Trail connects to an expanding local trail system, and the Winsted Public Library is part of the Pioneerland Library System. Seasonal festivals such as the Winter Festival, Summer Festival, and the Winstock Country Music Festival bring the community together. The Winsted Municipal Airport, the first in McLeod County, adds another local asset. The public elementary school is embedded in the town rather than isolated on a separate campus, and Holy Trinity Catholic schools also operate within the community.
The student body at Winsted Elementary is small. The enrollment is predominantly white, with a notable Hispanic minority and very small numbers of students from other racial backgrounds. Nearly half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a substantial share for a school of this size. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available in the reporting, so it is not possible to say how the school serves those populations.
On the most recent state assessments, the school’s overall proficiency across math and reading sits above the midpoint among the districts in McLeod County, a comparison set that includes five other districts with data. That is a solid position for an early elementary school. However, the results vary by grade and subject. In math, roughly two in five third graders met the standard, and a similar share of fourth graders did. In reading, the picture is more uneven: a relatively small share of third graders met the reading standard, while nearly half of fourth graders did. The reason for the jump between grades is not clear from the available data, and parents may want to ask the school about literacy support and how the curriculum addresses reading skills across the primary grades. Science testing results are from many years ago and do not represent current performance.
The district itself appears stable. The search for recent changes such as referendums, curriculum overhauls, or property-tax shifts turned up nothing with lasting impact, so parents can expect continuity in the district’s operations and funding.
For families looking for a small, rural elementary school in a town with a lake, trails, and a calendar of community events, Winsted Elementary offers a straightforward early childhood and primary education path. The school’s overall academic performance is competitive within its county, though the reading results in third grade are a point a parent might want to explore further. Because the school ends at fourth grade, students will move on to a different building in the district for the upper grades, something to keep in mind when planning the full elementary experience.
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