Lily Lake Elementary, Stillwater MN

Original Research by School Decision on Lily Lake Elementary

Lily Lake Elementary serves roughly 400 students in prekindergarten through fifth grade in Stillwater, part of Stillwater Area Public Schools. The building sits on the western side of town, a setting that blends residential neighborhoods with a historic riverfront downtown about a short drive away. Stillwater itself is a community where tourism, manufacturing, and a pair of state prisons anchor the local economy, and where the St. Croix River and nearby state parks provide outdoor recreation. The school draws from a local attendance zone within a district that saw no major recent changes publicly reported.

The student body is predominantly white, with modest shares of students who are Hispanic, Black, Asian, multiracial, or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. Roughly three in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that positions the school as serving a mix of income levels typical of a middle-class suburb with some higher-priced housing. Home values in the area are well above the state and national averages, and rents also run high, which gives the school a relatively affluent surrounding market.

On state assessments administered in the 2024-25 school year, Lily Lake posted results that place its overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades in the top quarter among Washington County’s elementary schools. That is a strong showing. In math, proficiency rates were in the higher range in third and fourth grade, with a dip in fifth grade. In reading, fourth graders hit a notably high mark, while third and fifth graders came in at moderate levels. Science, tested only in fifth grade, landed at a lower proficiency rate. This pattern suggests that the school’s strength is uneven across grade levels and subjects, which a parent may want to explore further with the school to understand why that fifth-grade slide occurs and what support is in place for it. Minnesota changed the science assessment name and cut scores for 2024-25, so that particular result is not directly comparable to prior years.

The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Chronic absenteeism data was not available in the record, which leaves a gap in understanding consistent attendance patterns. Special education enrollment and English learner counts were also missing from the data, so it is not possible from this record to assess how the school serves students with those needs.

Program offerings beyond the core curriculum were not provided, so the picture of arts, music, physical education, or enrichment is absent. The school is a regular public school with no charter or magnet designation, and Title I status was not reported.

For a family considering this school, the evidence points to a generally strong academic performer in a district with a reputation for solid schools, set in a community where housing costs are high and the economic mix includes both professional and industrial employment. The uneven proficiency results across grades are the main area that calls for a conversation with the school staff. The missing data on attendance and special populations limits the full picture, but the test results that are available give confidence in the core instruction.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 361%

School 61% · District 65% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 478%

School 78% · District 70% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Grade 560%

School 60% · District 50% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 349%

School 49% · District 56% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 8 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 471%

School 71% · District 59% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 560%

School 60% · District 66% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Science

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 36% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

This schoolStillwater Area Public Schools, 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-income44%Higher-income51%7 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income52%Higher-income79%27 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income41%Higher-income67%26 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income39%Higher-income73%35 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income50%Higher-income65%15 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income48%Higher-income92%44 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income24%Higher-income73%50 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income39%Higher-income61%22 pp gap