Wheaton Secondary, Wheaton MN - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Wheaton Secondary

Wheaton Secondary serves grades six through twelve in a single building in the small, rural Traverse County seat of Wheaton, Minnesota. It is a regular public school, part of the Wheaton Area Public School District, and its enrollment is small for a secondary school serving a seven-grade span. About half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly white, with a notable Hispanic presence and small shares of American Indian and multiracial students. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the records reviewed.

State testing results from the 2024-25 school year show a mixed picture that a family would want to examine closely. In reading, sixth graders posted a proficiency rate that was the strongest across the tested grades, but rates for seventh and eighth graders were markedly lower. Math proficiency rates were low across all three tested grades. Science results for eighth graders showed no students reaching the proficient level that year. When compared with the other districts in Traverse County, Wheaton Secondary’s overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile. This is not a school where the majority of middle-grade students are meeting state benchmarks, and a parent considering the school should ask what academic supports are available and whether the high school years change this pattern.

The school runs from sixth through twelfth grade, meaning a student who enters here can stay through graduation. The graduation rate data field was missing from the available records, so there is no reported measure of how many students finish high school, a gap a parent should follow up on with the school or district directly. No data on chronic absenteeism was available either, though that is often a relevant factor in understanding student engagement in a small rural setting.

Wheaton itself is a quiet prairie town and the county seat, with a population that has been declining. The economy is built around agriculture and a range of small service businesses. The housing market reflects the area’s affordability, with home values well below state and national benchmarks. The town is walkable in a basic sense given its small footprint, but there is no dense pedestrian culture or public transit. The school is likely situated near the town’s compact core, though the specific campus location was not detailed in the materials reviewed. The broader district did not have any major parent-relevant changes publicly reported in the last several years.

For a family, this is a school where the academic results in the middle grades raise questions that deserve direct answers. The elementary-to-secondary pathway is contained in one district and one building, which some families value for continuity. The town’s population decline and aging demographic mean the school’s enrollment may continue to be small, which can allow for personal relationships between students and staff but also limits the breadth of course offerings. The available data does not describe the school’s programs—whether it offers career and technical education, Advanced Placement, or dual credit—so that is another area a parent would need to explore directly with the school. The school’s website or a call to the office would be the best next step to understand what a high school student’s day actually looks like here.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

80-89%Cohort of 35 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

649 schools plotted. 88 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 640%

School 40% · District 40%

▲ 13 pts above state median

Grade 723%

School 23% · District 23%

▼ 1 pts below state median

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 6 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 655%

School 55% · District 55%

▲ 9 pts above state median

Grade 723%

School 23% · District 23%

▼ 13 pts below state median

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 7 pts below state median

Science

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 0%

▼ 12 pts below state median

This schoolWHEATON AREA 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 8Lower-income9%Higher-income50%41 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 8Lower-income9%Higher-income30%21 pp gap