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What do you wish you knew before starting at CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
727
Elementary
DISTRICT 431 · STATE 344
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·THIEF RIVER FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 273885002451
CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY
601 COUNTY ROAD 61, THIEF RIVER FALLS, MN 56701 · (218) 681-2345 · Pennington County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY33-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL727 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 53% of Minnesota public elementary schools
- B-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Minnesota public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
13.3:1
55 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.3:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
43%
314 students
DISTRICT 50% · STATE 48%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 47 | 6% |
| Kindergarten | 87 | 12% |
| Grade 1 | 125 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 101 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 115 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 133 | 18% |
| Grade 5 | 119 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (87) is 27% smaller than its 5th grade class (119).
Student demographics
33%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 33% · STATE 60% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY→FRANKLIN MIDDLE
Based on grade levels within THIEF RIVER FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
MCA 2024-25 . % Meets or Exceeds StandardsEnglish Language Arts
49.6%
MN avg 49.7%
Math
52.6%
MN avg 45.3%
What this means: On the MCA, Minnesota's statewide test, about 50 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 53 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Minnesota schools, those numbers are about 50 and 45.
Source: MCA. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
46.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
41.9%
based on MN schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+4.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 46% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 42% typical for Minnesota schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Minnesota's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY
CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY's state test result (46.0% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY this school | 727 | 43.2% | 46.0% |
| Pleasantview Elementary SAUK RAPIDS | 734 | 42.0% | 42.2% |
| HEART OF THE LAKE ELEMENTARY PERHAM | 578 | 41.0% | 50.7% |
| JEFFERSON ELEMENTARY NEW ULM | 643 | 37.6% | 49.6% |
| Mora Elementary School MORA | 862 | 43.6% | 56.8% |
| PINE CITY ELEMENTARY PINE CITY | 863 | 43.2% | 38.5% |
Matched among Minnesota elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Minnesota |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 46.0% | #416 of 844 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 52.6% | #393 of 844 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 49.6% | #403 of 844 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 727 | #67 of 1,130 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.3:1 | #343 of 769 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 33.4% | #538 of 796 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 43.2% | #438 of 942 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -23.8% | #105 of 499 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
727
-104 (-13%) vs 2020
-15% since 2000-01, when it was 852
Student : Teacher
13.3:1
was 13.2:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 727 | 54.6 | 13.3:1 | 43% (314) |
| 2023-24 | 781 | 57.6 | 13.6:1 | 44% (342) |
| 2022-23 | 783 | 57.8 | 13.6:1 | 41% (321) |
| 2020-21 | 831 | 63 | 13.2:1 | 35% (294) |
| 2017-18 | 954 | 63.2 | 15.1:1 | 42% (403) |
| 2015-16 | 930 | 62 | 15.0:1 | 38% (358) |
| 2010-11 | 882 | 60 | 14.7:1 | 43% (383) |
| 2000-01 | 852 | 65 | 13.1:1 | 34% (286) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY.
Since 2017-18: students down 24% (954 to 727); teachers down 14% (63.2 to 54.6).
About CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY
A high-enrollment elementary school in THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minnesota, CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY is part of THIEF RIVER FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT. The school enrolls 727 students in pre-K through 5. On average, elementary schools in Minnesota enroll around 344, and this school is 111% bigger than that mark.
CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY is one school in a 4-school district, THIEF RIVER FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT, which enrolls 1,725 students.
White students are 81% of those enrolled at CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY. The rest of enrollment is 11% Hispanic and 7% multiracial. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 33%.
Based on 54.6 full-time-equivalent teachers, CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY has a ratio of 13.3:1. It is about the same as the 13.7:1 average for elementary schools in Minnesota. Income data for the school show 43% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
On the allk12 Grade, CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY lands at B-, ahead of 53% of Minnesota public elementary schools.
CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY is 4.2 points above its predicted average proficiency rate across its state test results (46.0% versus 41.9%), which places it in neither the top nor the bottom 10% in Minnesota.
Pennington County is the school's county. There, the median household earns about $77,325 a year, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 21% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 7%. CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY shares Pennington County with 6 other public schools.
FRANKLIN MIDDLE is the nearest public school to CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY, about 1.4 miles away. Within five miles of CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY, there are 3 other public schools. Among its closest neighbors with test data, CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY is 2nd of 7 on proficiency.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is Town: Remote.
Enrollment was 727 in 2024-25. In 2020-21, it was 831.
People who know CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY can post here about homework, tutoring, and testing dates. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Pennington County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
13,791
Census ACS
Median income
$77,325
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
21%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
7
2,000 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in THIEF RIVER FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT
- LINCOLN SENIOR HIGHHigh · 521 students
- FRANKLIN MIDDLEMiddle · 454 students
- NORTHWEST AREA LEARNING CENTERHigh · 23 students
- Summer NW Area Learning CenterHigh
Other schools in THIEF RIVER FALLS
- LINCOLN SENIOR HIGHHigh · 521 students
- FRANKLIN MIDDLEMiddle · 454 students
- NORTHWEST AREA LEARNING CENTERHigh · 23 students
- Summer NW Area Learning CenterHigh
Other Challenger Elementary schools
8 other US public schools in 7 states are named Challenger Elementary. CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY is the 2nd largest of the 9.
- CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY SCHOOLTAMARAC, FL · 830 students
- Challenger ElementaryEverett, WA · 658 students
- Challenger Elementary SchoolPEARLAND, TX · 614 students
- Challenger Elementary SchoolHuntsville, AL · 491 students
- Challenger Elementary SchoolHOWELL, MI · 465 students
Nearby schools
- FRANKLIN MIDDLE1.4 mi · 454
- NORTHWEST AREA LEARNING CENTER1.4 mi · 23
- LINCOLN SENIOR HIGH1.6 mi · 521
- VIKING ELEMENTARY13.9 mi · 77
- Red Lake County Central Elementary14.2 mi · 178
- J.A. HUGHES ELEMENTARY15.3 mi · 237
Frequently asked questions
About CHALLENGER ELEMENTARYHow large is CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY?
CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY enrolls approximately 727 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY serve?
CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY serves grades PK-05.
How many students per teacher at CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY?
Approximately 13.3:1 students per teacher at CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY.
What is the student diversity at CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY?
Student demographics at CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY are roughly 81% White, 11% Hispanic, 0% Black, 1% Asian, 7% Two or more.
What district is CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY in?
CHALLENGER ELEMENTARY is part of THIEF RIVER FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.