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How has Tatanka Elementary STEM School changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
393
Elementary
DISTRICT 328 · STATE 344
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BUFFALO-HANOVER-MONTROSE SCHOOLS·NCES 270720001875
Tatanka Elementary STEM School
703 8TH ST NE, BUFFALO, MN 55313 · (763) 682-8600 · Wright County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY31-TOWNREGULAR SCHOOL393 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 22% of Minnesota public elementary schools
- C+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats 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
14.8:1
26 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.4:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
35%
138 students
DISTRICT 31% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 71 | 18% |
| Grade 1 | 65 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 77 | 20% |
| Grade 3 | 56 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 55 | 14% |
| Grade 5 | 69 | 18% |
This year's kindergarten class (71) is about the same size as its 5th grade class (69).
Student demographics
40%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 25% · 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
Tatanka Elementary STEM School→BUFFALO COMMUNITY MIDDLE
Based on grade levels within Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose Schools. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
MCA 2024-25 . % Meets or Exceeds StandardsEnglish Language Arts
44.1%
MN avg 49.7%
Math
43.1%
MN avg 45.3%
What this means: On the MCA, Minnesota's statewide test, about 44 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 43 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
39.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
46.2%
based on MN schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-6.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 39% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 46% 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 Tatanka Elementary STEM School
Tatanka Elementary STEM School's state test result (39.3% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tatanka Elementary STEM School this school | 393 | 35.1% | 39.3% |
| Christa McAuliffe Elementary HASTINGS | 470 | 33.0% | 58.8% |
| Isanti Primary School ISANTI | 407 | 33.4% | N/A |
| Kaleidoscope Charter Elementary Sch OTSEGO | 300 | 35.0% | 31.4% |
| Kennedy Elementary HASTINGS | 461 | 35.4% | 47.1% |
| SOUTH POINT ELEMENTARY EAST GRAND FORKS | 435 | 35.9% | 34.8% |
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 Tatanka Elementary STEM School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Minnesota | In Wright County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 39.3% | #549 of 844 | #19 of 20 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 43.1% | #529 of 844 | #18 of 20 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 44.1% | #508 of 844 | #18 of 20 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 393 | #494 of 1,130 | #14 of 31 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.8:1 | #519 of 769 | #11 of 21 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 39.8% | #477 of 796 | #8 of 21 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 35.1% | #605 of 942 | #5 of 24 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -20.9% | #146 of 499 | #3 of 14 |
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
393
-63 (-14%) vs 2020
-35% since 1990-91, when it was 605
Student : Teacher
14.8:1
was 16.3:1
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 | 393 | 26.5 | 14.8:1 | 35% (138) |
| 2023-24 | 420 | 30.9 | 13.6:1 | 42% (175) |
| 2022-23 | 452 | 30.9 | 14.7:1 | 41% (185) |
| 2020-21 | 456 | 28 | 16.3:1 | 25% (115) |
| 2017-18 | 497 | 28 | 17.8:1 | 34% (170) |
| 2015-16 | 507 | 28 | 18.1:1 | 32% (162) |
| 2010-11 | 534 | 28 | 19.1:1 | 34% (181) |
| 2000-01 | 528 | 32 | 16.5:1 | 26% (138) |
| 1990-91 | 605 | 32 | 18.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Tatanka Elementary STEM School.
Since 2017-18: students down 21% (497 to 393); teachers down 5% (28 to 26.5).
About Tatanka Elementary STEM School
As a mid-sized elementary school, Tatanka Elementary STEM School serves students in BUFFALO, Minnesota. There are 393 students enrolled, covering kindergarten through 5.
Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose Schools has 5,175 students in 10 schools, and Tatanka Elementary STEM School is one of those schools.
White students are 77% of those enrolled at Tatanka Elementary STEM School. Next come 8% Black, 7% multiracial, and 6% Hispanic. That compares with about 89% White among all Wright County residents. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 40%.
There are 26.5 full-time-equivalent teachers at Tatanka Elementary STEM School, giving a ratio of 14.8:1. Elementary schools in Minnesota have an average ratio of 13.7:1. By family income, 35% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That rate is above the 24% average among public schools in Wright County.
Among Minnesota public elementary schools, Tatanka Elementary STEM School outscored 22%, which works out to a C- on the allk12 Grade.
Predicted from its free or reduced-price lunch share, Tatanka Elementary STEM School would score about 46.2%. It scores 39.3%, 6.9 points below that figure.
For Wright County, Census Bureau data show the median household earns about $107,209 a year, 34% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 4% of people live in poverty. Counting Tatanka Elementary STEM School, Wright County has 88 public schools.
Tatanka Elementary STEM School's closest public school neighbor is SWMetro Buffalo-Transitions, about 0.1 miles away. Within five miles of Tatanka Elementary STEM School, there are at least 8 other public schools. In a group of 4 nearby schools with scores, Tatanka Elementary STEM School ranks 4th on average proficiency.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as Town: Fringe, meaning it is in a town close to an urbanized area.
Enrollment decreased by 14% across 4 years, from 456 in 2020-21 to 393 in 2024-25. Its ratio of students to teachers was 16.3:1 in 2020-21, and 14.8:1 in 2024-25.
Tatanka Elementary STEM School has a community page on allk12 for topics such as athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Wright County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
148,269
Census ACS
Median income
$107,209
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
34%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
88
27,879 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose Schools
- BUFFALO SENIOR HIGHHigh · 1,681 students
- BUFFALO COMMUNITY MIDDLEMiddle · 1,160 students
- NORTHWINDS ELEMENTARYElementary · 419 students
- HANOVER ELEMENTARYElementary · 368 students
- Montrose Elementary School of InnovElementary · 363 students
- PARKSIDE ELEMENTARYElementary · 348 students
Other schools in BUFFALO
- BUFFALO SENIOR HIGHHigh · 1,681 students
- BUFFALO COMMUNITY MIDDLEMiddle · 1,160 students
- NORTHWINDS ELEMENTARYElementary · 419 students
- PARKSIDE ELEMENTARYElementary · 348 students
- DISCOVERY ELEMENTARYElementary · 257 students
- BUFFALO EARLY CHILD. SP. ED PROGRAMElementary · 150 students
Nearby schools
- SWMetro Buffalo-Transitions0.1 mi · 26
- PARKSIDE ELEMENTARY0.6 mi · 348
- BUFFALO EARLY CHILD. SP. ED PROGRAM0.6 mi · 150
- DISCOVERY ELEMENTARY0.6 mi · 257
- BUFFALO COMMUNITY MIDDLE0.7 mi · 1,160
- Wright Technical Center ALC Middle0.8 mi · 3
Frequently asked questions
About Tatanka Elementary STEM SchoolHow many students attend Tatanka Elementary STEM School?
Tatanka Elementary STEM School enrolls approximately 393 students in grades KG-05.
Is Tatanka Elementary STEM School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Tatanka Elementary STEM School is an elementary school covering grades KG-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Tatanka Elementary STEM School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Tatanka Elementary STEM School is approximately 14.8:1 (26 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at Tatanka Elementary STEM School?
Student demographics at Tatanka Elementary STEM School are roughly 77% White, 6% Hispanic, 8% Black, 2% Asian, 7% Two or more.
What district is Tatanka Elementary STEM School in?
Tatanka Elementary STEM School is part of Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.