Cleveland Elementary, Cleveland MN

Original Research by School Decision on Cleveland Elementary

Cleveland Elementary is the only elementary school in the Cleveland Public School District, serving pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. The school sits in the very small, slow-growing city of Cleveland, Minnesota, a compact residential town with a grid of streets and a motto that emphasizes friendly community character. The school is integrated into the town rather than isolated on a separate campus, and the district serves the entire community through a single elementary and a secondary school for upper grades.

Academically, Cleveland Elementary performs at a level that places it in the top quarter of schools relative to other districts in Le Sueur County, based on a composite proficiency index that averages results across tested subjects and grades. In math, proficiency rates show that a majority of students meet state standards in third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, though the share proficient varies somewhat by grade. In reading and language arts, results are more uneven. Third and fourth graders meet the standard at roughly the same rate, while fifth and sixth graders do so at notably higher rates, suggesting that older students in this building have stronger English language arts outcomes. The only tested science grade is fifth, where the share of students reaching proficiency is lower than in either math or reading for that grade. Because the current testing data covers only a single school year, there is no trend information to indicate whether these results represent an improvement or decline.

The student body is predominantly white, with a modest share of Hispanic students and a small number of students identifying as two or more races. Just over a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a level that is near the state average for Minnesota and indicates a middle-income population overall. Data on special education identification and English learner status is not available in the current record, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about these programs.

The housing market in the area is somewhat expensive relative to the state. Home values are higher than the Minnesota median, and the typical home in Cleveland would require a substantial portion of household income to carry a mortgage at current interest rates. The town itself is growing very slowly and no major new developments were identified in publicly reported sources. The lack of large employers nearby means most working residents commute to larger towns in the region.

Cleveland Elementary is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. Its Title I status is not recorded in the available data, so whether it receives federal funding to support low-income students is unclear. The district brief turned up no recent referendums, bond measures, or curriculum changes, so the school appears stable in terms of leadership and programming.

This is a school that fits families who value a small-town, single-school community where the elementary building is a neighborhood institution and the student body is largely homogeneous in race and income. The academic results are strong for the county, particularly in the upper elementary grades for reading, but lower science proficiency and a lack of multi-year trend data mean a family should ask about how the school supports subjects beyond math and reading, and about programs for the small but present share of students from diverse backgrounds. The relatively high local housing costs contrast with the modest district size, so families moving to Cleveland should expect that home prices reflect the broader southern Minnesota market more than the town’s own scale.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 367%

School 67% · District 67%

▲ 12 pts above state median

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 52%

▲ 1 pts above state median

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 53%

▲ 18 pts above state median

Grade 654%

School 54% · District 54%

▲ 27 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 8 pts above state median

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 49%

▲ 8 pts above state median

Grade 575%

School 75% · District 75%

▲ 21 pts above state median

Grade 664%

School 64% · District 64%

▲ 18 pts above state median

Science

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 42%

▲ 18 pts above state median

This schoolCLEVELAND PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT, 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-income58%Higher-income48%10 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income47%Higher-income50%3 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income39%Higher-income87%48 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income30%Higher-income73%43 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income67%Higher-income67%1 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income40%Higher-income55%15 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income15%Higher-income66%50 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income30%Higher-income60%30 pp gap