The top reported proficiency rate is 13% in English language arts. The lowest is 8% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Finlayson Elementary
Finlayson Elementary sits at the edge of a very small rural community in Pine County, about halfway between Forest Lake and Duluth along Interstate 35. It is a regular public school serving prekindergarten through sixth grade as part of the Hinckley-Finlayson School District. The school itself is described as “the School Growing in the Pines,” surrounded by pine trees along Highway 18, and it is a central civic anchor in a town that otherwise has no traditional downtown district.
The enrollment is small. The student body is overwhelmingly white, with a handful of Hispanic and Asian students represented. A substantial share of students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic realities of a community where employment is concentrated in public institutions and seasonal or outdoor work rather than large-scale industry. The area’s median household income and housing values are modest, and the housing stock is dominated by owner-occupied homes with very few rentals. Growth is essentially flat; the population has seen only slight change in recent years, and no major new developments have been reported.
On state assessments, the picture is mixed and limited. For most grades, the number of students tested was small enough that results were either reported as zero percent proficient or suppressed to protect student privacy. The only grade and subject where a proficiency rate was reported for all students was sixth-grade math and sixth-grade reading, where roughly half of students met the state standard. Science results for fifth grade were suppressed due to a very small tested group. Looking across all tested subjects and grades, the school’s overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among districts in Pine County. Because the school has only one year of multi-year trend data, it is not possible to say whether this is an established pattern or a single snapshot. A parent may want to ask the school directly about how it supports early literacy and math foundations, especially in the grades where assessment numbers were too small to report.
There is no graduation rate to consider since Finlayson Elementary ends at sixth grade. For seventh through twelfth grade, students make a commute to Hinckley-Finlayson High School in Hinckley. The former Finlayson High School was torn down some years ago, so the elementary building now represents the only school within the town itself.
The school environment is shaped by its rural setting. Street life is event-based rather than continuous: the Fourth of July and St. Urho’s Day draw community gatherings with food stands, music, and activities organized by the fire department, the community center, and the school. Outdoor recreation around several area lakes is a defining feature of daily life. The town’s few civic buildings — city hall, the fire department, the community center — are spread along a short stretch of Finland Avenue and Highway 18, so the school is not in a walkable downtown but rather on the highway edge.
For a family considering Finlayson Elementary, the school offers a small, close-knit setting where staff and students likely know each other well. The academic data suggests that performance on state tests is low relative to other districts in the county, and the small cohort sizes mean that year-to-year results can fluctuate unpredictably. The school does not have its own high school, so the transition to a larger school in Hinckley is inevitable after sixth grade. The community is quiet, rural, and slow-growing, with housing costs that are below state and national medians. It is a fit for families who value a very small school in a low-key, outdoors-oriented town and who are comfortable following up directly with the school on academic support and student progress.
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