January 6, 2020

If the Minneapolis Public Schools succeeds in turning the district into K-5 and 6-8 schools only, as its current Comprehensive District Design proposal strongly suggests, it will become surrounded by a sea of K-8 options within and just outside its boundaries.

Of the one hundred sixty-four charter schools currently in operation in Minnesota, half are at least K-6 schools. Most are exclusively K-8. Many more are K-12, and of course this has something to do with the need and desire to retain students for as long as possible, for funding and programmatic reasons.

In Minneapolis alone, there are thirteen K-8 charter schools. Many attract non-white populations, despite the claim that students of color either do not do well in K-8s or that families of color are not seeking them. (Watch the Minneapolis school board’s December 12, 2019 Committee of the Whole meeting for a discussion of this.)

If higher standardized test scores are the measure of equity and success–which I would dispute wholeheartedly–then parents from all walks of life appear to be disregarding this when choosing K-8s. In a list of area K-8 schools provided below, I include test score and demographic data that illustrates this very point.

Most K-8s in and around Minneapolis in fact have MCA test score results that are lower than or equal to MPS sites with similar student demographics.

Of all the charter schools in Minneapolis, Yinghua Academy in Northeast has the highest percentage of students with grade-level (or above) math and reading MCA scores. This is not hard to imagine because test scores most closely match students’ socioeconomic status (or, as MPS administrator Eric Moore said recently, “test scores follow students”), and just ten percent of Yinghua Academy students live in poverty.

But scores notched at Yinghua are still lower than those at the district’s Lake Harriet School in southwest Minneapolis, which is a K-8 dual campus site where only 7 percent of students qualify for free and reduced lunch.

It is very difficult to compare these schools to one another, simply on paper. And, of course, MCA test scores do a terrible job of telling the far more complex story of any school. But it does beg the question of what criteria families are using to select schools for their kids.

Does MPS have this information?

If parents, and especially parents from marginalized communities, are not choosing K-8s because they can promise higher standardized test scores, why are they choosing them? What about this model is attracting thousands of kids who, perhaps, would otherwise be attending a Minneapolis public school?

The answer may lie in the fact that public education has become a choice-based marketplace, dominated by increasingly segregated, privately managed but publicly funded schools that are as subject to fraud and failure as any traditional public school.

And what will happen if MPS further reduces or altogether eliminates its K-8 sites, under the clearly mistaken assumption that K-5s and stand-alone middle schools are either better for students or more appealing to families?

K-8 and K-6 Charter Schools in Minneapolis (including demographic and test score data obtained from the Minnesota Department of Education)

Best Academy in north Minneapolis. K-8.

• Student enrollment: 756
• 98.1% Black or African-American; 88% Free and Reduced Lunch (FRL)
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 25.4%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 32.1%
• Authorizer: Audubon Center of the North Woods (*authorizers receive thousands per year, per charter school, in taxpayer dollars to oversee school quality)

Bdote Learning Center in south Minneapolis. K-8.

• Student enrollment: 101
• 81.2% American Indian or Alaska Native; 95% FRL
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 2%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 0%
• Bdote offers context for its lower scores here, through an language immersion lens
• Authorizer: Innovative Quality Schools

Brightwater Elementary, north Minneapolis. Pre K-6. Preschool is private (tuition-based), K-6 is a charter school.

• Student enrollment: 160
• Nearly evenly split between White and Black or African-American students, with smaller percentages of other groups; 53% FRL
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 20.7%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 35.4%
• Authorizer: Audubon Center of the North Woods

Cedar Riverside Community School, south Minneapolis. K-8.

• Student enrollment: 140
• 92.9% Black or African-American; 7.1% Hispanic or Latino; 95% FRL
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 20.8%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 33.3%
• Authorizer: Pillsbury United Communities

Friendship Academy of the Arts, south Minneapolis. “Due to family and community demand, FAA has expanded to  a K-8 school.”

• Student enrollment: 168
• 98.2% Black or African-American; 73% FRL
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 51.7%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 52.8%
• Authorizer: Pillsbury United Communities

Hennepin Schools, south Minneapolis. K-8, dual campus.

• Student enrollment: 268
• 94.8% Black or African-American; 95% FRL
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 44.7%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 40.5%
• Based on the sample schedule listed online, students are in school from 8:30-4:35 with one 15 minute recess
• Authorizer: Friends of Education

KIPP North Star, north Minneapolis. K-8. KIPP has a “strategic plan to grow to four schools by 2024.”

• Student enrollment: 203
• 97% Black or African-American; 95% FRL
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 19%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 26.4%
• Authorizer: Volunteers of America

Mastery School, north Minneapolis. K-6.

• Student enrollment: 230
• 94.3% Black or African-American; 95% FRL
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 23.2%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 31.2%
• Authorizer: Pillsbury United Communities

New City School, northeast Minneapolis. K-8.

• Student enrollment: 306
• 56.9% White, 22.9% Black or African-American; 32% FRL
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 49.5%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 63.5%
• Authorizer: Novation Education Opportunities

Northeast College Prep, northeast Minneapolis. K-8.

• Student enrollment: 319
• 68% Black or African-American, 16% White; 90% FRL
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 41.8%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 39.7%
• Authorizer: Student Achievement Minnesota LLC

Skyline Math and Science Academy, south Minneapolis. K-6.

• This is school has yet to open.
• Authorizer: Minnesota Guild of Public Charter Schools

Sojourner Truth Academy, north Minneapolis. K-8.

• Student enrollment: 389
• 74.6% Black or African-American; 18.5% Hispanic or Latino; 95% FRL
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 13.7%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 13.3%
• Authorizer: Pillsbury United Communities

Southside Family Charter School, south Minneapolis. K-8.

• Student enrollment: 116
• 39.7% White; 21.6% Two or More Races; 47% FRL
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 47.3%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 60.8%
• Authorizer: Volunteers of America

Spero Academy, northeast Minneapolis. K-6.

• Student enrollment: 127
• 55.9% White, 15.7% Black or African-American; 40% FRL
• Almost 100 percent of students qualify for special education services
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 34.3%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 35.7%
• Authorizer: University of St. Thomas

Stonebridge World School, south Minneapolis. K-6.

• Student enrollment: 287
• 64.8% Black or African-American; 22% Hispanic or Latino; 84% FRL
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 16.4%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 25.3%
• Authorizer: Pillsbury United Communities

Twin Cities International Schools, north Minneapolis. K-8.

• Student enrollment: 1,021
• 99.9% Black or African-American; 95% FRL
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 41%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 43.3%
• Authorizer: Pillsbury United Communities

Universal Academy, south Minneapolis. Pre K-8

• Student enrollment: 403
• 97.3 Black or African-American; 86% FRL
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 24.4%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 30.5%
• Authorizer: Novation Education Opportunities

Yinghua Academy, northeast Minneapolis. K-8 Dual Immersion (Mandarin).

• Student enrollment: 822
• 53% White; 30.9% Asian; 10% FRL
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 84.5%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 74.2%
• Authorizer: Friends of Education

And here is a quick look at a few of the non- K-5s near Minneapolis:

Loveworks Academy for Visual and Performing Arts, Golden Valley. K-8. *frequent recipient of philanthropic funds despite notably low results

• Student enrollment: 159
• 94.3% Black or African-American; 95% FRL
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 6.7%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 15.4%
• Authorizer: Pillsbury United Communities.

Nasha Shkola, Brooklyn Park. K-8. Focused on the “unique needs” of Slavic and Russian immigrant students, as well as those interested in learning Russian.

• Student enrollment: 99
• 94.9% White; 70% FRL
• Percent of students with math MCA scores: 65.6%
• Percent of students with reading MCA scores: 47.5%
• Authorizer: Innovative Quality Schools

Noble Academy, Brooklyn Park. Pre K-12. A growing charter school that recently expanded to include grades 9-12, with a special focus on Hmong language and culture.

• Student enrollment: 1, 029
• 86.9% Asian, 11.3% Black or African-American; 52% FRL
• Percent of students with grade-level math MCA scores: 59.8%
• Percent of students with grade-level reading MCA scores: 49.1%
• Authorizer: Audubon Center of the North Woods

In January, MPS will begin holding information sessions regarding its Comprehensive District Design, with a final proposal expected in March. Thus far, the only versions of this redesign shown to the public have included nothing but separate K-5 and 6-8 schools. 

We must ask why this is, when the evidence clearly shows that all types of families are actively choosing the K-8 model. This points to another problem with the proposed redesign: the lack of ground-level staff and community input.