The top reported proficiency rate is 43% in English language arts. The lowest is 16% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Alden-conger Elementary
Alden-Conger Elementary is a regular public school serving students in prekindergarten through sixth grade in the small, mainly residential rural town of Alden, Minnesota. It is part of the Alden-Conger Public School District and the only elementary school in that system. The school sits in Freeborn County, a mostly agricultural and manufacturing region in southern Minnesota. The town itself is small and has experienced a slow population decline in recent years, though median property values have risen. Manufacturing, health care, and retail trade are the leading local industries. The homeownership rate is high. Alden is served by a state highway and Interstate 90, which connect it to larger towns and cities in the region. No information was found about walkability or a distinct downtown-to-school campus relationship, which is typical of a rural setting.
The student body is small for a K-6 school. The composition is overwhelmingly white, with small shares of Hispanic students and students who identify as two or more races, and very small numbers of Black and Asian students. More than a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure of economic need that is substantial but not extreme for a rural Minnesota school. Data on special education and English learner populations were not reported in the available records.
Academically, Alden-Conger Elementary participates in the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, the state’s standardized tests, and results are available for the 2024-25 school year. Performance varies notably by grade level and subject. In third grade, mathematics proficiency was on the high end, but it dropped in fourth grade and fell further in fifth grade, where only a small share of students met the state standard. Sixth-grade math proficiency recovered somewhat but remained below the third-grade level. In English language arts, results were more consistent across grades, with roughly two-fifths to just under half of students proficient in each tested grade. The only tested science grade is fifth; proficiency in that subject was low, matching the pattern seen in fifth-grade math. Because this school serves only through sixth grade, there is no graduation rate to report, and chronic absenteeism data were also absent from the records. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages results across all tested subjects and grades, placed it in the top quartile relative to districts in Freeborn County. That comparison set includes three districts, so the top quartile position indicates that Alden-Conger Elementary performs above the midpoint of a small field, but the within-school variability by grade and subject is wide enough that a parent would want to understand what drives those differences, particularly the sharp dip in upper elementary math and science.
No information was available about program offerings such as gifted services, special education supports, or extracurricular options. The school environment and access section did not include data on staffing ratios, discipline rates, or course access, which are common gaps for an elementary school with no high school grades. The district brief turned up no recent changes of lasting impact reported in public sources.
For a family considering Alden, this is a small-town elementary school with a largely homogeneous student body and a modest level of economic diversity. The academic picture is mixed: early elementary math is a relative strength, but by fifth grade the share of students meeting state standards in both math and science is low. English language arts performance is steadier. The school sits in a community with a stable if slowly shrinking population and rising home values, and the local economy offers some manufacturing and healthcare jobs. A parent weighing this school should expect a close-knit rural setting and may want to ask the school directly about how it supports students who struggle in the upper elementary grades and what resources are available for advanced learners or those needing extra help. The available data does not answer those questions, so a visit and conversation with the principal would be the natural next step.
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