The top reported proficiency rate is 64% in Math. The lowest is 23% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Avon Elementary
Avon Elementary serves students from prekindergarten through fifth grade in the small Stearns County town of Avon, part of the Albany Public School District. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it draws almost entirely from the local community. The student body is small for an elementary school serving this grade span, and the demographic profile is predominantly white, with a much smaller share of Hispanic students and a very small number of Asian and multiracial students. About one in five students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that is modest relative to national averages and suggests a relatively low-poverty context for this school.
Avon Elementary sits inside the St. Cloud Metropolitan Statistical Area, but the town itself feels distinct. Avon is a compact, car-dependent small town with a short main street along Avon Avenue, three lakes within its boundaries, and the Lake Wobegon Trail running through it. Manufacturing is the largest local industry, followed by educational services and health care. The housing market in the area, as measured by the zip code encompassing the school, shows home values that sit above the national median and have been rising at a rate similar to the state trend. The typical home in this area would cost a substantial multiple of the national median household income, and monthly mortgage costs would likely exceed market rents, pointing to a market where renting is more affordable than buying for a household seeking a typical starter home. The community’s homeownership rate is high, and the town has seen modest population growth between recent censuses.
The school’s academic performance on Minnesota’s state assessments is a clear strength. On the overall proficiency index—a measure combining results across tested subjects and grades—Avon Elementary ranks in the top quartile among elementary schools in Stearns County. That places it well above the median for the county’s districts. In math, the school’s results show a pattern where proficiency is strong in fourth grade, notably higher than the state average, while third-grade math is solid and fifth-grade math is lower, dipping below the state average. In English language arts, the school’s proficiency across all tested grades is above the state average, with fourth and fifth grade both strong and third grade at roughly the state midpoint. In science, which is tested only in fifth grade in Minnesota, the proficiency rate is below the state average, and this is an area where the school’s performance is noticeably weaker than its math and reading results. Parents should note that the state changed the science assessment and cut scores in recent years, so direct comparison to prior years is not straightforward; nonetheless, the fifth-grade science result is a soft spot that a family may want to ask the school about.
Because Avon Elementary serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and the school does not yet have data on chronic absenteeism or discipline in the available records. The school’s staffing ratios, course access, and attendance patterns were not provided, so those dimensions cannot be assessed here.
At the district level, the Albany Public School District recently passed a capital projects referendum that authorizes significant bonding for facility improvements. Those plans include a new early learning center plus additions and renovations at the high school and at the elementary school—which would include Avon Elementary itself. This investment signals that the district is preparing for growth or updating aging infrastructure, a factor that may matter to families thinking about the school’s physical environment over the next several years.
For a family researching Avon Elementary, the academic picture is encouraging overall, with math and reading results that compare favorably to other elementary schools in Stearns County, and a notably strong showing in fourth-grade math and reading. The fifth-grade science results are an outlier that warrants a conversation with the school. The student body is small and relatively homogeneous, and the town offers a lakes-and-trails setting with a low-key civic life. The district’s facility investment suggests the school will see physical improvements in the coming years, which is a positive signal for long-term stability.
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