Barnesville Elementary, Barnesville MN

Original Research by School Decision on Barnesville Elementary

Barnesville Elementary is a regular public school serving kindergarten through sixth grade in the Barnesville Public School District, located in the small rural city of Barnesville, Minnesota, within the Fargo-Moorhead metro area. The school’s enrollment is moderate for its grade band, and the student body is overwhelmingly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic, multiracial, American Indian, Asian, and Black students. About a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a degree of economic diversity.

Academically, the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades ranks in the top quartile relative to the other districts in Clay County. In reading, proficiency rates across grades three through six are solid, with most grade levels showing a majority of students meeting standards. Mathematics results are more uneven. Third and fourth graders perform at a high level, but proficiency drops noticeably in fifth grade and further in sixth grade, where fewer than half of students are proficient. Science results for fifth grade are low, though the state changed the science assessment and cut scores in the tested year, so the results may not directly compare to prior years. This pattern suggests strong early elementary instruction, but families with children entering upper elementary grades may want to ask the school about math and science support and curriculum alignment in those years.

Because the school serves only through sixth grade, there is no graduation rate for this campus. Data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, and staffing were not available, so those dimensions cannot be assessed here. No information on special education or English learner populations was reported, leaving a gap in understanding the full range of student support services.

The community of Barnesville is a small rural city with a compact business sector, city-owned utilities, and a calendar of annual events such as Potato Days and the Clay County Fair that reinforce a tight-knit town character. It sits on Interstate 94, a short drive from Fargo-Moorhead and other regional centers. Housing values are modest relative to national figures, and the area has experienced slow population growth, typical of a stable rural community.

The district recently completed a capital project that added a Performing Arts Center and a Sports Arena to the campus, and it was recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School in the 2021-2022 school year, signaling a district-level commitment to academic quality that extends to the elementary school.

Barnesville Elementary fits families looking for a small-town, community-anchored elementary school with a strong start in reading and early math, housed in a district that has invested in facilities and earned national recognition. The drop in math proficiency in the upper elementary grades is a point to investigate further with the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 373%

School 73% · District 73%

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 484%

School 84% · District 84%

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 30 pts above county median

Grade 551%

School 51% · District 51%

▲ 16 pts above state median

Grade 645%

School 45% · District 45%

▲ 17 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 368%

School 68% · District 68%

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 459%

School 59% · District 59%

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 573%

School 73% · District 73%

▲ 19 pts above state median

Grade 661%

School 61% · District 61%

▲ 15 pts above state median

Science

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 24%

even with state median

This schoolBARNESVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOL DIST., 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-income73%Higher-income67%7 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income60%Higher-income59%1 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income47%Higher-income81%34 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income47%Higher-income64%17 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income60%Higher-income76%16 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income85%Higher-income83%2 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income58%29 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income29%Higher-income49%20 pp gap