The top reported proficiency rate is 62% in Math. The lowest is 39% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Ada-borup-west Elementary
Ada-Borup-West Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Ada, the county seat of Norman County, a small agricultural town in northwestern Minnesota. The school is a regular public school and part of the Ada-Borup-West Public Schools district, which itself was formed by a 2022 consolidation of two previous districts. This consolidation reshaped attendance boundaries and governance, joining the Ada, Borup, and former Norman County West communities. Families moving into the area are joining a district that is still settling into its new structure.
The student body is largely white, with a Hispanic population of roughly one in seven students. About half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that lines up with the area’s agricultural economy and rural character. The town of Ada itself has seen a slow population decline in recent years, though the city has invested in new civic infrastructure including a public works building, a clinic, and a hospital. The schools and the hospital are among the area’s largest employers.
State testing data from the 2024-25 school year provides a detailed look at academic performance by grade and subject. In math, proficiency was above the mark in third grade and reached a high level in fourth and fifth grades, with each grade performing at a rate that would be considered solid. In reading, the picture is more uneven. Third and fourth grade proficiency were modest, but fifth grade students performed at a much higher level, with a strong majority meeting the state standard. In science, which is tested only in fifth grade, the proficiency rate was lower. A parent looking at the reading scores in the early tested grades may want to talk with the school about how reading instruction is structured there.
Across all tested subjects and grades combined, the school’s overall proficiency index places it among the top-performing schools relative to other districts in Norman County, of which there are only two. Because the comparison set is small, that position should be understood in context: the school stands out within a narrow local field.
The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Data on chronic absenteeism and on special populations such as students with disabilities and English learners were not available, so families with children who have specific learning needs may want to ask the district for details.
The elementary school shares a site with the district’s high school on the west side of Ada. The town itself is compact, with a historic downtown core, a county courthouse, an active historic theatre, a grocery store, and a nine-hole public golf course. Street life is seasonal, centered on events like the Norman County Fair. There is no public transit.
For a family, the key factors here are a school that shows strong math performance and a very strong fifth-grade reading result, but weaker early-grade reading proficiency that a parent may want to investigate. The setting is a small, stable rural town with a consolidating school district, recent reinvestment in public infrastructure, and a housing market that is more affordable than the state median. This is a place for someone looking for a small elementary school in a tight-knit community, where the school is a central institution and the district is still in a post-merger phase.
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