The top reported proficiency rate is 53% in Math. The lowest is 22% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Highland Elementary
Highland Elementary serves first through fifth graders in Crookston, a small county-seat city in the Red River Valley of northwestern Minnesota. Crookston sits roughly a half-hour drive from Grand Forks, North Dakota, and functions in part as a commuter town while maintaining its own identity through a historic downtown, a University of Minnesota campus, and an economy rooted in agriculture and manufacturing. The school is one of several in the Crookston Public School District and operates as a regular public school.
The student body is racially and ethnically diverse. White students make up a little over half of enrollment. Hispanic students represent well over a quarter, and there are also smaller shares of American Indian, Black, multiracial, and Asian students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which indicates a significant concentration of lower-income families. The school enrolls a few hundred students, and its grade levels are balanced, with each grade from first through fifth carrying a similar-sized cohort.
State testing results from the most recent school year present a mixed picture. In reading, proficiency rates across grades three through five cluster around the middle mark, with the highest rate among fourth and fifth graders and a notably lower rate in third grade. In math, proficiency rates are somewhat higher in third and fourth grades, but fifth-grade math proficiency drops markedly. This fifth-grade dip is a soft spot that a parent may want to ask the school about. Science testing, which is administered in fifth grade only, shows a proficiency rate that is notably lower than the state average.
The school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades, when compared with other elementary-level schools in Polk County, places in the top quartile of the districts in the county. That means that while certain grade-level results are uneven, Highland Elementary performs relatively well in the context of its rural county, especially in the earlier tested grades.
No information was available on chronic absenteeism or discipline, and the school’s staffing data was also absent, so a parent looking for insight into school climate or support resources would need to seek that directly from the school. The district itself had no publicly reported major changes or strategic initiatives in recent years, so the picture here is one of stability rather than transformation.
Crookston’s housing market is modestly priced relative to state and national benchmarks, which aligns with the area’s gradual population decline. The city has invested in civic infrastructure, including a sports center and a renovated public library, and there is a university campus in town that adds a cultural and economic layer. The school draws from Crookston and likely from surrounding unincorporated areas within the district, but the available data does not specify busing or attendance boundaries.
For a family considering Highland Elementary, the key takeaway is that this is a school with solid early-grade math and reading outcomes that place it among the better-performing elementary schools in Polk County, but with a clear drop-off in fifth-grade math and science. The student body is economically diverse and racially varied. The community is a small, tight-knit city with a working agricultural and industrial base, a university presence, and a downtown that retains historic character. The district appears to be operating without recent major disruption, and a parent interested in the fifth-grade performance or school climate would benefit from a conversation with the principal.
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