The top reported proficiency rate is 53% in Science. The lowest is 34% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Staples-motley Elementary
Staples-Motley Elementary serves students from pre-kindergarten through fourth grade in the Staples-Motley School District, a regular public school in the small central Minnesota city of Staples. The school is relatively small for its grade band, and its student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic, American Indian, and multiracial students. More than half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a common marker of economic need in the community.
Because the school covers only early elementary grades, state testing is limited to third and fourth graders in math and reading. On the most recent assessments, math proficiency was higher than reading in both tested grades. The school’s overall proficiency index across subjects and grades places it above the median among Todd County districts, in the top quartile of the comparison set. That suggests that relative to its county peers, the school is performing well. Still, the available data covers just a single academic year, so there is no trend to show whether performance is improving, holding steady, or declining. A parent may want to ask the school about how its results have changed over time. Science results are on file from nearly a decade ago, too old to inform a current picture.
The school’s size and grade configuration mean that many metrics that matter to families with older students do not apply here. There is no graduation rate, no chronic absenteeism figure, and no data on discipline or course access. Those are not weaknesses of the school; they simply reflect that the school does not serve grades where those measures are typically reported. Families considering Staples-Motley Elementary will eventually need to look at the middle and high school that their child would feed into, but that information is separate.
Staples itself is a small city with a manufacturing, healthcare, and education base. Major employers include 3M and Lakewood Health System, and the BNSF Railway maintains a junction in town. The city is experiencing modest, slow growth, with some newer housing construction alongside older stock. Downtown revitalization efforts, including restoration of the historic Batcher Block Opera House, are actively underway. The housing market is more affordable than state and national benchmarks, which may be a factor for families considering a move. The school district’s brief turned up no recent changes of lasting impact, such as major referendums or curriculum shifts, so the district appears stable.
For a parent or resident, this is a small elementary school in a rural small town that performs above the county average on state tests in the grades it serves. The student population reflects the demographics of the area, and a substantial share of families are managing economic constraints. The school’s academic strengths are in math relative to reading, though both subjects show room for growth. A family with a child entering early elementary grades would find a school that fits the typical profile of a community-anchored public elementary school in greater Minnesota, with a manageable size and a performance record that holds up well against nearby districts. The lack of multi-year trend data and the limited grade span mean that the full picture of academic trajectory will only become clear as the child moves through the district’s upper schools.
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