Washington Elementary, Cloquet MN

Original Research by School Decision on Washington Elementary

Washington Elementary is a regular public school serving pre-kindergarten through fourth grade in Cloquet. The school is part of the Cloquet Public School District and sits in a small city at the junction of Interstate 35 and State Highway 33, roughly a short drive southwest of Duluth. Cloquet has a mixed residential and commercial character, with a traditional downtown along Cloquet Avenue and a growing network of trails. Part of the city lies within the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation, and the city is often referred to as a hockey town with a distinct small-town identity.

The enrollment at Washington Elementary is moderate for an elementary school serving this grade band. The student body is majority white, with a substantial Native American presence and a notable share of students identifying as two or more races, along with smaller Hispanic, Asian, and Black populations. About half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a considerable portion of families with lower incomes. Data on students with individualized education programs or English learner status was not available in the school's reporting, so a parent with a child in either category may want to ask the school directly for those numbers.

Academically, Washington Elementary shows a clear strength in state testing relative to its peers. The school's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the top quartile when compared to other districts in Carlton County. In both math and reading, more than half of third and fourth graders met state standards in the most recent assessment year. That said, the available data covers only a single school year, so no trend can be assessed. The school does not serve grades that take the state science assessment, so no current science results are available; a science result from several years ago is too old to be meaningful and does not apply to the school's current grade span. For a family focused on early elementary performance, the proficiency rates are solid and notably strong for the county.

Housing in Cloquet is relatively affordable. Home values are below the statewide typical level and also under the national median. The local housing market has seen modest appreciation recently. The city's population has been slowly declining in recent years, and much of its incorporated area is rural in character. The homeownership rate is moderate. No major new housing developments were identified in publicly reported sources.

The district itself did not have any recent parent-relevant changes reported in available public sources, so the educational landscape appears stable at this level.

For a parent considering Washington Elementary, the picture is a school with a solid academic footing for its early grades, a diverse student body shaped by the community's mix of white and Native American families, and a setting that blends small-town amenities with outdoor recreation access. The school's strengths in proficiency relative to county peers are clear, while the absence of data on special education and English learner populations is a gap worth following up on. The community offers lower-cost housing than many parts of the state, though population trends are flat to slightly downward.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 365%

School 65% · District 72% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▲ 10 pts above state median

Grade 459%

School 59% · District 56% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 355%

School 55% · District 60% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 13 pts above state median

Grade 459%

School 59% · District 57% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Science

Grade 574%

School 74% · District 25% · ▲ 48 pts above district

▲ 49 pts above state median

This schoolCLOQUET 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-income53%Higher-income57%4 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income51%Higher-income66%15 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income73%Higher-income89%16 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income47%Higher-income80%34 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income49%Higher-income68%20 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income58%Higher-income85%27 pp gap