Original Research by School Decision on New London-spicer Sr.
New London-Spicer Sr. High School serves students in grades nine through twelve in the New London-Spicer School District, a regular public high school located in the small city of New London in Kandiyohi County. The high school has a modest enrollment, with each grade level housing roughly similar numbers of students, creating a setting where a student body of this size is ordinary for a non-metro high school.
The student body is predominantly white. A modest share of students come from Hispanic backgrounds, while smaller numbers of Black students and students identifying as two or more races attend the school. About a quarter of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that is relatively low compared to state and national averages, suggesting that the school serves a community with less concentrated poverty than many other public schools. Data on students with Individualized Education Programs and English learners were not available in the records reviewed.
State assessment data is available for a single school year and provides a snapshot of academic performance. In English language arts, a solid majority of students met or exceeded proficiency standards, a result that reflects a strength in literacy instruction at the school. In mathematics, however, the proficiency rate was notably lower, with fewer than four in ten students reaching the bar. A parent considering this school may want to look into the math curriculum and support structures further, as the gap between literacy and math performance is substantial. Because this is a single year of data with no trend line available, it is not possible to say whether this pattern is stable or shifting.
Graduation rate data was not available for this school in the records reviewed. Chronic absenteeism data was also absent. These gaps often reflect the nature of the entity or the reporting cycle; a family may wish to ask the school directly about on-time graduation and attendance patterns.
The school is part of the New London-Spicer School District. A search for recent district-level changes of interest to parents turned up little of lasting impact, so no specific operational or programmatic shifts are noted here.
New London is a small city in Kandiyohi County with a residential and small commercial character. It sits along the Middle Fork of the Crow River and promotes itself as part of "Lakes Country," with locally owned businesses, recreation, dining, and theater. Historically its economy depended on a flour and sawmill, and later included a creamery, glove factory, concrete supply company, propane gas tank manufacturer, and printing company. The state of Minnesota operates a fish hatchery in New London on the site of the former mill. Sibley State Park is nearby. The town has a compact, small-town built environment centered on a millpond. U.S. Route 71 and Minnesota State Highways 9 and 23 run through or near the city, and the larger regional center of Willmar is a short distance south. The population has shown modest growth in recent years. Housing values in the area fall below the state median but are close to the national median, and the area is more affordable than many parts of Minnesota, with typical rents leaving a smaller share of income for housing compared to mortgage costs. The national unemployment rate at the time of this data stood at a moderate level.
Because the comparison data for proficiency was not applicable here, this school was not placed relative to other districts in Kandiyohi County on that metric. For a family, the picture is one of a small high school in a small-town setting with solid literacy outcomes, a math result that merits attention, and a student demographic profile that is less economically diverse than the average American public school. The school's setting offers access to outdoor recreation and a compact downtown, within a district that appears to have been stable in recent years, based on available information.
See more original research from School Decision →