Granada Huntley East Chain Middle S, Granada MN

Original Research by School Decision on Granada Huntley East Chain Middle S

Granada Huntley East Chain Middle School serves sixth through eighth grade students in the small, rural community of Granada, Minnesota. It is a regular public school within the Granada Huntley East Chain district, a consolidated district that draws from multiple small towns. The school is small, and its enrollment reflects the demographics of the rural area it serves: the student body is almost entirely white, with a very small Hispanic population. Just over half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker that a substantial share of families face economic strain.

Granada itself is a very small community that has been losing population. Its commercial base is minimal, and it has no significant local employers. The town supports a handful of businesses, but essentially no street life or downtown to speak of. The housing market in the area shows home values slightly above the national benchmark, and the area has experienced a strong year-over-year increase in home values. For families considering a move, this is a landscape of small-town rural living with limited local amenities and a declining population base.

State assessment data for the 2024-25 school year shows that student proficiency rates across math, reading, and science are low. In math, proficiency rates were in the mid-teens to low thirties across the three grade levels. In reading, proficiency was in the mid-twenties to nearly thirty percent. Science results for eighth graders show a very small share of students meeting the state standard. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school’s overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Martin County.

Because the school only serves middle school grades, it does not have a graduation rate to report, which is standard for this grade band. The data also did not include information on chronic absenteeism, discipline, staffing, or course access, so it is not possible to assess those dimensions from the available evidence. The district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes, such as boundary shifts, program launches, or facility plans, that would affect a family’s decision.

For a parent or resident, this is a straightforward picture. The school is small, rural, and economically mixed. Academic performance is below the county average on state tests, a fact that a family would want to weigh carefully and perhaps discuss directly with the school to understand what interventions or supports are in place. The community is shrinking and offers very little in the way of local commerce or civic life. A family choosing this school is likely doing so for the sake of a small, familiar environment and a rural setting, not for strong academic outcomes on state measures or for the amenities of a growing town.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 617%

School 17% · District 17%

▼ 11 pts below state median

Grade 732%

School 32% · District 32%

▲ 8 pts above state median

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 7 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 626%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 20 pts below state median

Grade 724%

School 24% · District 24%

▼ 12 pts below state median

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 30%

▼ 6 pts below state median

Science

Grade 87%

School 7% · District 7%

▼ 5 pts below state median

This schoolGranada Huntley East Chain, 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 6Lower-income25%Higher-income27%2 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income21%Higher-income27%6 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income20%Higher-income35%15 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income25%Higher-income8%17 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income21%Higher-income46%24 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income10%Higher-income24%14 pp gap