Washington District-wide Elementary, Rochester MN

Original Research by School Decision on Washington District-wide Elementary

Washington District-Wide Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Rochester, a mid-sized city built around the Mayo Clinic’s vast medical complex and visitor economy. The school is part of the Rochester Public School District, which recently opened a new elementary school to address enrollment growth and launched online learning programs, signaling a district that is expanding its capacity and options.

Academically, this school posts results that stand out within Olmsted County. When compared to other districts in the county, Washington’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades lands in the top quartile. This is a clear strength. Students in third grade showed especially strong performance in both math and reading. Fourth-grade reading and fifth-grade math were the softer spots, with proficiency lower than in the other grades tested. Parents may want to look into this further with the school to understand how instruction or support varies across grade levels.

Science results are available only for fifth grade, where about two out of five students met proficiency standards. This number sits below the school’s performance in math and reading for the same grade, and it could reflect the fact that science testing conditions changed recently, which can make year-to-year comparisons unreliable. A parent might ask how science instruction is structured in the earlier grades.

The school serves a student body where a modest share qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student population is predominantly white, with notable shares of Asian students and students of two or more races, and smaller shares of Hispanic and Black students. Information on the share of students with disabilities or English learners was not available in the data provided, so a parent should ask the school about special education services and language support.

Washington is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. It serves only elementary grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. The school’s enrollment is sized for its grade band, with classes that appear to be small enough to allow for individual attention. Housing in the surrounding area is priced roughly in line with state and national benchmarks, and monthly rents are a modest portion of typical area income, which may matter for families renting while their children attend.

Rochester itself is in a period of sustained investment. The Destination Medical Center initiative is channeling resources into downtown development, a new bus rapid transit line is under construction, and the population continues to grow. This growth context is relevant for families considering the long-term trajectory of the community and the school district. The school sits in a city where the dominant employer, Mayo Clinic, draws millions of visitors annually, giving the local economy an institutional anchor that is unusual for a city of this size.

For a family weighing elementary options in Rochester, Washington District-Wide Elementary offers the combination of a small neighborhood-scaled environment and academic results that place it among the stronger performers in the county. The grade-level variation in proficiency is worth a conversation with the school, but the overall picture is of a school that delivers solid foundational skills, particularly in the early elementary years.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 381%

School 81% · District 59% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 471%

School 71% · District 54% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 556%

School 56% · District 40% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 373%

School 73% · District 48% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 454%

School 54% · District 44% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 576%

School 76% · District 52% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Science

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 27% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

This schoolROCHESTER PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT, 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 3Lower-income36%Higher-income81%45 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income46%Higher-income84%38 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income27%Higher-income94%67 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income36%Higher-income61%24 pp gap