The top reported proficiency rate is 36% in English language arts. The lowest is 13% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Wm. M. Kelley Secondary
Wm. M. Kelley Secondary serves students in grades six through twelve as a regular public school within the Lake Superior Public School District in Silver Bay, Minnesota. The school is the only secondary option in the district and draws from a small, close-knit community on Lake Superior’s North Shore. Enrollment is small, and the student body is predominantly white, with a modest share of students who identify as two or more races. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
State assessment results for the 2024-25 school year are available for reading, math, and science, but with only a single year of data, no trend can be established. In math, proficiency rates were below the midpoint of state expectations across the three tested grades, with performance near the lower end of the range. Reading proficiency was more varied, with the strongest result in sixth grade, a dip in seventh grade, and a recovery in eighth grade that was still below a majority proficient level. Science results for eighth graders were the weakest of the three subjects and a parent may want to look into this further with the school. Because only one year of data is available, it is not possible to say whether these results reflect a pattern or a particular year’s performance.
Graduation rate data was not available. The school serves high school grades, so this is a notable gap. A parent may want to ask the district for its four-year graduation rate directly.
The school’s environment mirrors its setting. Silver Bay is a small town that was originally built as a company town to house workers at a taconite processing plant, which remains the dominant employer under Cleveland-Cliffs. The town sits on Lake Superior’s North Shore and has increasingly added tourism and outdoor recreation as a second identity, anchored by Tettegogue State Park, Split Rock Lighthouse, and a network of trails. The population peaked decades ago and has declined since, with a slight uptick in recent estimates. Housing values are below the state and national benchmarks, reflecting the area’s modest economic base and slow growth. The town’s layout is low-density and suburban-rural, with a planned residential and civic core rather than a walkable downtown. Civic anchors include parks, a marina, a golf course, a hockey arena, and a library. A parent considering a move here should expect a quiet, outdoor-oriented community with limited commercial street life.
The Lake Superior Public School District has an “Anchor Our Future” referendum, referenced on the district website, and recent fiscal data shows significant construction spending, suggesting facility improvements are underway or recently completed. This could affect both school buildings and local property taxes, but specific details on the referendum’s vote date and amount were not publicly available in the sources reviewed.
Given the small size of the district and the single secondary school, program offerings and course access data were not available. A family with specific academic interests, such as Advanced Placement, dual credit, or career and technical education pathways, should contact the school directly to understand what is available. The school’s location places it in an isolated stretch of the North Shore, with the nearest larger towns a considerable distance away, so extracurricular and enrichment options may be regional rather than local.
For a family that values a small, rural school where the community is tight and the setting is lake-and-forest recreation, Wm. M. Kelley Secondary fits that profile. The academic results suggest room for growth, particularly in math and science, and the graduation rate is a piece of information the school should be able to provide upon request. The trade-offs are clear: a quiet, slow-growth town with limited economic diversification, a school where the numbers are not yet at the state midpoint, and a district that is making capital investments but is small enough that parents should expect to be directly involved in shaping the school experience.
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