The top reported proficiency rate is 46% in English language arts. The lowest is 42% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Vaughan-steffensrud Elementary
Vaughan-Steffensrud Elementary serves children from prekindergarten through grade three in Chisholm, a small town on Minnesota’s Iron Range. As a regular public school that is not a charter, it is the entry point for the youngest students in the Chisholm Public School District, which also operates a separate elementary building for grades four through six and a combined junior-senior high school. Because the school ends at third grade, it has no graduation rate to report and no data on chronic absenteeism—those metrics apply to older grade bands.
The school is woven into the town’s compact street grid, located on First Avenue Northeast. Chisholm itself has a blue-collar identity shaped by decades of iron mining, and it has been called the Heart of the Iron Range. The local economy is now a mix of ferrous metals, healthcare, and tourism, with institutions like the Minnesota Discovery Center and the Minnesota Museum of Mining anchoring civic life. Population has been declining at a modest annual rate, and the city is focused on downtown revitalization rather than rapid growth. Housing is notably affordable relative to national and state benchmarks, which reflects the area’s economic transition and matters for families considering a move.
Enrollment at Vaughan-Steffensrud is small and the student body is predominantly white. A substantial share of students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a proxy for lower household income and is consistent with the broader community’s economic profile.
State assessment results are available only for third grade, the only tested grade in this building. In both math and English language arts, the school’s proficiency rates place its overall performance above the midpoint among elementary schools in St. Louis County. That is a positive signal, but it is a narrow one—it reflects a single cohort at a single grade level, not a multi-year trend. The state testing data covers only one year, so there is no track record yet to show improvement or decline over time.
Parents considering this school should note that its academic picture is inherently incomplete because it covers so few grades. How well the district prepares students for middle and high school will depend on the elementary building for grades four through six and the high school program. The district brief turned up no recent changes or strategic priorities publicly reported, so families may want to ask about curriculum alignment across the three school buildings and about supports for students who need extra help.
The school’s grade band also means that the typical measures of high school rigor, such as advanced coursework or career pathways, do not apply. The focus here is on early literacy, numeracy, and building foundational skills. For families who value a small, neighborhood-oriented primary school in a town with an affordable housing market and a laid-back, mining-town character, Vaughan-Steffensrud fits that description. A family looking for a broader view of academic performance, including through the upper grades, would need to look at the full district.
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