Sebeka Elementary, Sebeka MN - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Sebeka Elementary

Sebeka Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in the small, rural town of Sebeka, Minnesota, part of the Sebeka Public School District. The school building is historically woven into the downtown fabric, with a federally commissioned mural from the WPA era inside the high school portion of the complex, signaling a long-established civic presence rather than a separated campus out on the edge of town.

The student body is small and predominantly white, with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The elementary sits within Wadena County, a rural area where the local economy historically centered on logging and now likely counts the school district itself among the larger employers. Housing in Sebeka is modestly priced relative to state and national benchmarks, with values that have risen in recent years. The town has seen only slight population growth after a long period of decline or stasis, and no major new development projects were identified in available public records.

On state assessments, Sebeka Elementary’s results vary considerably by grade and subject, a pattern that families may want to explore further with the school. In math, proficiency rates were strong in third and fourth grades, then dropped sharply in fifth and sixth grades. In reading, the school’s overall proficiency rate across all tested grades fell roughly near the middle of the range one might expect, with fourth grade performing better than fifth grade in particular. Science results for fifth grade, the only grade tested in that subject, were low. The school’s proficiency index, which combines scores across tested subjects and grades, places it in the top quartile relative to other districts in Wadena County, a point worth noting given that the county’s district-level numbers are themselves quite modest and the gap between Sebeka and the cohort median is not large.

Because the school serves only through sixth grade, there is no graduation rate to report, and the district brief turned up no major recent changes such as a boundary shift, leadership turnover, or program closure that would alter a family’s day-to-day experience. The elementary offers no special designation such as charter or magnet status.

The peer environment is small and rural. Class sizes by grade appear to hold steady in the moderate range through the elementary years, with a bulge in sixth grade that may reflect families consolidating from smaller outlying schools or a single-section structure. The town itself is walkable only in its compact core, and the school is integrated into that walkable zone, not set apart. Families considering Sebeka Elementary should weigh its solid early-grade math performance and its strong showing relative to neighboring county districts against the uneven middle-grade results and the very limited scope of local economic and recreational amenities. The school’s place as the largest employer and a civic anchor in a slowly shrinking town means it is likely a stable institution in a community that values its presence.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 376%

School 76% · District 76%

▲ 21 pts above state median

Grade 488%

School 88% · District 88%

▲ 36 pts above state median

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 22%

▼ 13 pts below state median

Grade 632%

School 32% · District 32%

▲ 5 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 52%

▲ 10 pts above state median

Grade 463%

School 63% · District 63%

▲ 21 pts above state median

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 40%

▼ 14 pts below state median

Grade 654%

School 54% · District 54%

▲ 8 pts above state median

Science

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 22%

▼ 2 pts below state median

This schoolSEBEKA 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-income25%Higher-income85%60 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income65%Higher-income60%5 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income50%17 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income56%Higher-income100%44 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income82%Higher-income93%11 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income19%Higher-income27%8 pp gap