The top reported proficiency rate is 41% in English language arts. The lowest is 10% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Franklin Middle
Franklin Middle School serves all of the district’s sixth- through eighth-grade students in Thief River Falls, a regional center in northwestern Minnesota with an economy anchored by Digi-Key Electronics and Arctic Cat. The school occupies a regular public school building within the city, not on a separate campus, and feeds into Lincoln High School. About two in five students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a share that gives some sense of the economic mix of the community.
The student body is predominantly white, with a modest Hispanic population and smaller numbers of American Indian, two-or-more-races, Asian, and Black students. English learner and special education enrollment figures were not reported in the available data, so a parent would want to ask the school directly about its support structures for those populations.
On the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, Franklin Middle’s proficiency rates across all tested subjects and grades sit above the midpoint among the three school districts in Pennington County, according to the comparison data available. That may place it in the middle of a small field. The most recent results show that in reading, about two in five students scored proficient in sixth and seventh grade, with a slightly lower rate in eighth grade. In math, proficiency rates declined as grade level increased, from roughly a third of sixth graders to about the same fraction in seventh grade and a bit lower in eighth. Science results for eighth graders were notably weaker, with about one in ten students meeting the proficiency bar. The state reported changes to the science assessment that make direct comparison to prior years unreliable, so it is unclear whether this is a new baseline or a trend. A parent may want to ask the school what specific support it offers eighth graders in science.
State testing data for Franklin Middle is available only for the most recent year, so there is no multi-year trend to examine. The school’s graduation rate is not applicable, as it serves only middle school grades.
The district has faced financial headwinds. In the 2024 election, voters rejected an operating levy that would have provided additional annual funding, and the school board subsequently approved a budget reduction package that cut staff positions and programs. These reductions are driven in part by declining enrollment in the district overall. Families enrolling at Franklin Middle now should expect that class sizes may increase and that some extracurricular offerings may be affected. At the same time, the district has implemented a new evidence-based literacy curriculum in the elementary grades in compliance with Minnesota’s READ Act, shifting to structured phonics instruction. That change will affect students as they move into middle school, though Franklin Middle’s own curriculum and instructional approach were not detailed in the available data.
A notable local asset is the Ralph Engelstad Arena, a large hockey venue built for the high school team, which points to a community where hockey and winter sports are deeply woven into school life. The city itself is compact, with a downtown core centered on the former Soo Line Depot, now city hall. The parks system along the Thief River and Red Lake River offers outdoor recreation, and Northland Community and Technical College provides a local higher education presence.
Families considering Franklin Middle will find a school that is small enough that students are not lost in the crowd, set in a town with a stable industrial and distribution economy and a clear sense of community identity. The middle school sits near the middle of the proficiency range relative to its county peers, and the recent district budget cuts mean that parents should stay informed about how those reductions affect the daily experience at the school. The science results are the weakest point in the academic picture and are worth a direct conversation with school staff.
See more original research from School Decision →