NCES CCD 2024-25 13 schools MN

Best-Resourced Schools in Willmar, MN

Compiled from official source data by .

13 public K-12 schools in Willmar from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
13
Schools
4,300
Students
39.2/100
Avg Resource Index
12.6:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Middle-of-corpus city profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Willmar has more public-school enrollment than 48% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Willmar sits in the broad middle of the national city distribution rather than at a single obvious extreme. Its scale, average Resource Investment Index, and staffing position need to be read together: a middle placement on one measure does not cancel a stronger or weaker result on another. The percentile panel makes those dimensions explicit, and the school table shows where the city aggregate breaks into materially different campus profiles.

Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio

9 of Willmar's 13 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.

The composite and staffing measures point in different directions

Willmar's average Resource Investment Index sits at the 42nd percentile, while its teacher-staffing measure sits at the 83rd percentile. The 41-point percentile gap is a reminder that the index is not a class-size score: counselors, gifted-program reporting, and attendance also affect it. Compare those components directly when two schools have similar index totals; the same headline score can arise from a different mix of reported resources.

City enrollment
Top 52%
School count
Top 28%
Resource Index average
42nd percentile
Teacher staffing
83rd percentile

Willmar Senior High accounts for 28.0% of all Willmar public-school enrollment

That dominant concentration means Willmar-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Willmar school enrollment varies 110× across entities

Willmar school enrollment ranges from 11 students (lowest) to 1,205 students (highest), a spread of 1,194 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Willmar reports 61.3% free-lunch eligibility

The reported share clears the 50% majority mark. Title I operates under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), but its statutory allocation uses additional LEA-level counts and rules not represented by this average. This percentage is an economic-need context measure; it does not establish a Title I award, show dollars received, or describe how funds are distributed among campuses.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Willmar student-teacher ratio is 12.6:1 — low (typically associated with smaller schools or per-school staffing investment that often correlates with stronger per-student supports)

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. Prairie Lakes Education Center 60
2. Willmar Area Learning Center 58
3. Swwc Elc - Willmar 56
4. Jefferson Learning Center 51
5. Lakeland Elementary School 46
6. Kennedy Elementary 42
7. Roosevelt Elementary 41
8. Willmar Middle School 38
9. Lakeview School 29
10. Middle School Alc 28
11. Lake Park School 27
12. Willmar Senior High 24
13. Dream Technical Academy 10

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Willmar

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Lakeview School 72.7/100
  2. 2 Prairie Lakes Education Center 71.5/100
  3. 3 Roosevelt Elementary 71.3/100
  4. 4 Middle School Alc 69.2/100
  5. 5 Lake Park School 68.6/100

What do families ask about schools in Willmar?

Which Willmar school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Prairie Lakes Education Center has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Willmar schools in this federal-data comparison at 60/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Willmar, MN? ▼

Willmar has 13 public schools with a total enrollment of 4,300 students. 1 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 12.6:1.

Other Cities in Minnesota

Saint Paul
150 schools
Minneapolis
141 schools
Rochester
48 schools
Duluth
31 schools
Brooklyn Park
30 schools
Plymouth
27 schools

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in Minnesota →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.