The top reported proficiency rate is 77% in Math. The lowest is 60% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Sherburn Elementary
Sherburn Elementary is a regular public school in the small, rural town of Sherburn, Minnesota, and it serves students from pre-kindergarten through second grade. Because of its early grade span, many of the metrics parents commonly use to evaluate a school — such as a graduation rate, high school course offerings, or chronic absenteeism data — do not apply here and were not reported. The school is part of the Martin County West School District, which was formed in a consolidated effort among several small towns and is in the process of building a new school campus, as noted on the city website.
The student body is small and overwhelmingly white, with a small number of Hispanic students and a handful of students who identify as two or more races or American Indian. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a measure of household economic need. Special education and English learner counts were not available in the data.
The most recent state assessment results in math and reading come from the 2012–13 school year, which is older data. In math, the share of third graders scoring proficient was well above the state’s standard at the time, and the share of fourth graders scoring proficient was also strong. In reading, the picture was more mixed. The share of third graders scoring proficient was lower than the math results, and the share of fourth graders scoring proficient was a bit higher but still a clear step below the math outcomes. A parent should note that Minnesota changed its reading assessment cut scores around this time, and the assessment itself was later replaced, so direct comparisons to more recent years are not possible without caveats.
When the school’s proficiency rates are averaged across all tested subjects and grades and compared to other schools within the broader Martin County school landscape, Sherburn Elementary lands in the top quarter. That position tells you the school performed well relative to its nearby peers at the time of testing, though it is important to remember this data is from over a decade ago.
The school sits in Sherburn, a quiet, primarily residential town at the junction of Interstate 90 and State Highway 4, about a short drive west of the county seat of Fairmont and a similar distance east of Jackson. The town describes itself as having strong community connections and active lifestyle opportunities oriented toward nearby Fox Lake and the surrounding natural areas. The downtown is a small Main Street corridor with a few storefronts including the Sherburn Theater, which was the subject of a recent citizen-led revival effort. Civic anchors include the Fox Lake Golf Club and the Lions Club. The town’s population has seen a modest decline over recent decades. There is no public transit, and walkability is limited to the small town footprint.
On the Martin County West School District’s side, a new school is being built — a development the city highlights — and the school’s web presence notes small class sizes. No recent curriculum changes, referendums, or significant property-tax shifts were found in available sources.
For a family considering this school, the core consideration is that it is a small early-elementary program in a consolidating rural district. The academic data is old but shows a school that performed well in math compared to its peers in the county at that time, with reading proficiency that was lower but still around typical levels. The real open question for a parent is likely what the school looks like now, more than a decade after those test scores were collected, and how the transition to the new school building will affect the day-to-day experience.
See more original research from School Decision →