The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Heartland Girls Ranch
Heartland Girls Ranch is an alternative school in Benson, Minnesota, serving seventh through twelfth grade. It sits within the Benson Public School District, a rural district in Swift County where the town of Benson functions as the county seat. The town itself is small, fully rural, with a traditional downtown along Pacific Avenue and an economy tied to agriculture and ethanol production. Population has been slowly declining in recent years. The district has made facility investments, including a performing arts center and a dedicated Pre-K–5 learning space, and offers a free kindergarten readiness preschool program, but those are district-wide offerings and the relationship to Heartland Girls Ranch specifically is not detailed in the available data.
The school enrolls a very small number of students, which is typical of a specialized alternative setting. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic, Black, Asian, and multiracial students. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. No data is available on the share of students with individualized education plans or English learner status; that gap may reflect the school’s alternative structure or grade range.
Heartland Girls Ranch is classified as an alternative school, and that designation matters for how academic performance is interpreted. For the 2024–25 school year, state assessment results show very low proficiency rates in math and English language arts for the grades tested—seventh and eighth. In math, the proficiency rate was at the floor of what the state reports. In ELA, roughly three in ten students met the proficiency bar. Eighth-grade science results were suppressed due to a very small number of test-takers. Because the number of students tested is tiny, these figures are not comparable to a typical comprehensive school; they reflect a specific student population that may be facing significant challenges outside the classroom. Only one year of proficiency data is available, so there is no trend to examine.
The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages results across tested subjects and grades, lands in the bottom quartile among districts in Swift County. A parent considering this school should understand that the typical metrics of academic performance are very low, but they are also expected in an alternative setting serving students who may have experienced disruptions in their education. A deeper conversation with the school about the student population, the instructional approach, and how progress is measured beyond state tests would be essential.
No graduation rate is reported for Heartland Girls Ranch. The comparison data set for Swift County districts notes that this metric is missing, so it is not possible to assess how many students complete a diploma here. For a high-school-serving alternative school, this is a significant gap; families would want to ask the school directly about graduation pathways, postsecondary transitions, and the length of stay for enrolled students.
The school’s location in Benson means it draws on a community that is rural and car-dependent, with a modest amount of street life along the downtown corridor. Major employers include the Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company and county government. Housing values in the area are lower than state and national medians, consistent with a small, declining-population town. The district overall has emphasized early childhood and facility upgrades, but those investments may not directly speak to the experience at Heartland Girls Ranch.
In short, Heartland Girls Ranch is a very small alternative school serving a high-need population, and the academic results are low in conventional terms. The school’s role is likely to provide a different educational environment for students who have not succeeded in a traditional setting. A family or guardian evaluating this placement would want to understand the specific programs, therapeutic or academic supports, and outcomes for students who attend, since the publicly reported test data and missing graduation rate leave many questions unanswered.
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