The top reported proficiency rate is 52% in English language arts. The lowest is 16% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Crosby-ironton Secondary
Crosby-Ironton Secondary serves grades seven through twelve as the sole secondary campus of the Crosby-Ironton Public School District. It sits in the small former mining town of Crosby, on the Cuyuna Iron Range, a place that has remade itself around outdoor recreation and antiquing after the mines closed in the early 1980s. The town is built around Serpent Lake, and its compact main street is known as the “Antique Capitol” of Minnesota. The flooded mine pits now form the Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area, a destination for mountain biking and SCUBA diving. This is a low-growth community where tourism drives much of the economy and housing values run modest relative to state benchmarks, though still above the national median. The school itself is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it draws students from Crosby and the adjacent town of Ironton.
State testing results are available for grades seven and eight only, since those are the grades the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments cover in this building. In math, proficiency rates hover around the midpoint for the district’s county peers: grade seven saw roughly half of students meeting standards, while grade eight dipped slightly below half. In reading, grade seven posted a stronger result, with about six in ten students proficient, but grade eight came in notably lower, below half. Science scores for grade eight were considerably lower, with a small share of students reaching proficiency. The state changed both the science assessment and its cut scores for the 2024-25 year, which makes direct comparison with earlier years unreliable. Only a single year of testing data is available here, so academic trends cannot be assessed. The school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it above the midpoint among districts in Crow Wing County.
Enrollment at the school totals a few hundred students spread fairly evenly across grades seven through twelve, typical for a secondary school in a small district. The student body is predominantly white, with small shares of students identifying as two or more races or Hispanic. About half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a moderate level of economic need among families. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported in the available records. The school does not have a reported four-year graduation rate in this dataset, a gap a parent may want to follow up on directly with the district. Chronic absenteeism data is also absent.
The district itself has taken steps to stabilize its finances and expand early learning. Voters approved a multi-year operating referendum that generates recurring revenue to maintain class sizes and programs. The district also added full-day preschool options in response to community demand. On the property tax side, the school board kept its levy flat for at least one recent year, declining to use its full taxing authority.
No information was available on course offerings such as Advanced Placement, dual credit, career and technical education pathways, or extracurricular programs. Without that detail, the academic pathway beyond the tested grades remains unclear. Parents considering this school would likely want to speak with the school or district about what advanced coursework, college preparation, and career programs are available for high school students.
Crosby-Ironton Secondary fits families looking for a small-school setting in a rural lake-and-woods community where recreation is central to local life. The academic picture shows variability by grade and subject, with the school holding its own relative to other districts in the county. The absence of graduation rate and program data means a thorough look at postsecondary readiness will require a conversation with the school itself.
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