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If you had an hour of school board time for NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY, what would you bring up?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
391
Elementary
DISTRICT 190 · STATE 344
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BENSON PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 270447000201
NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY
1800 NEVADA AVE, BENSON, MN 56215 · (320) 843-2710 · Swift County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY43-RURALREGULAR SCHOOL391 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
16.8:1
23 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.7:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
38%
150 students
DISTRICT 54% · 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
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. 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
NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY→BENSON SECONDARY
Based on grade levels within BENSON PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
MCA 2024-25 . % Meets or Exceeds StandardsEnglish Language Arts
41.3%
MN avg 49.7%
Math
44.8%
MN avg 45.3%
What this means: On the MCA, Minnesota's statewide test, about 41 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 45 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
36.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
44.5%
based on MN schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-7.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 37% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 44% 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 →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
391
-72 (-16%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
16.8:1
was 15.6:1
% White
81%
was 83%
% Hispanic
11%
was 9%
% Black
2%
was 5%
% Asian
3%
was 1%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY
NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY is a mid-sized elementary campus in BENSON, Minnesota, operated by BENSON PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT. The school educates 391 students in grades pre-K through 5.
Across the 4 schools in BENSON PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT (760 students total), NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY accounts for its share of the district's footprint.
Demographically, NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY reports that nearly all students (81%) are White. The remainder consists of 11% Hispanic, 4% multiracial, 3% Asian.
Looking at the economic backdrop, The school reports having 23 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 16.8:1. The state averages around 13.7:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. An estimated 38% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.
Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 44.5%, the actual is 36.8%, a residual of -7.7 points.
Around the school, community-level numbers for Swift County indicate median household income runs about $60,412, roughly 24% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 8% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Swift County's 8 public schools (combined enrollment of about 1,767 students), NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY is one campus in the mix.
BENSON SECONDARY is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. 3 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY comes 5th of 7 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 49.1%.
The school occupies an outlying site.
Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 16%: 463 students in 2018 compared to 391 in 2025. Class-load math has loosened: from 15.6:1 in 2018 to 16.8:1 in 2025.
On the community side, members of the NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Swift County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
9,748
Census ACS
Median income
$60,412
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
24%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
8
1,767 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in BENSON PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT
- BENSON SECONDARYHigh · 334 students
- Heartland Girls RanchHigh · 22 students
- BENSON AREA LEARNING CENTERHigh · 13 students
Other schools in BENSON
- BENSON SECONDARYHigh · 334 students
- Heartland Girls RanchHigh · 22 students
- BENSON AREA LEARNING CENTERHigh · 13 students
Nearby schools
- BENSON SECONDARY0.4 mi · 334
- BENSON AREA LEARNING CENTER0.4 mi · 13
- Heartland Girls Ranch1.1 mi · 22
- MURDOCK ELEMENTARY12.2 mi · 395
- HANCOCK ELEMENTARY15.2 mi · 233
- HANCOCK SEC.15.2 mi · 204
Frequently asked questions
About NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARYHow many students attend NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY?
NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY enrolls approximately 391 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY serve?
NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY serves grades PK-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY?
The student-to-teacher ratio at NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY is approximately 16.8:1 (23 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY?
At NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY, the student body is approximately 81% White, 11% Hispanic, 2% Black, 3% Asian, 4% Two or more.
Who oversees NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY?
NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY is overseen by BENSON PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT in Swift County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.