Understanding Minnesota’s abysmal test scores — with 42.6 percent of students performing at grade level in math in 2025 and only 47.6 percent at grade level in reading — can be a more nuanced process than might be expected.
While the goals for student achievement should be much higher than today’s status quo (and, indeed, used to be higher), some seemingly low scores are actually victories for struggling communities. High concentrations of poverty often contribute to dismal test results, meaning that even mediocre test standings represent strong academic strides for low-income communities. My colleague Catrin Wigfall has argued that charter schools in particular should be understood through this nuanced lens, as charter schools can raise up struggling minority students.
The Minnesota Star-Tribune has recently identified 50 high-poverty public and charter schools as “beating the odds,” meaning that their students performed far better than expected on math and reading tests.
The Star-Tribune did not note how they calculated poverty within the formula for expected test scores for the analyzed schools, but a similar recent project from education reporter The 74 Million used students who qualified for free and reduced lunch. That project also found that Minnesota is in an unfortunate minority of states that saw a very strong correlation between low test scores and high poverty levels.
One school that “beat the odds” in both reading and math was Higher Ground Academy Secondary, a charter high school in St. Paul. More than or equal to 90 percent of their students qualify for free or reduced lunch, and 48.5 percent are English learners. In 2025, HGA Secondary students scored at 38.7 percent proficiency in math and 51.4 percent proficiency in reading.
Down the block from Higher Ground Academy Secondary is St. Paul’s Central High School, a public high school where 49.9 percent of students qualify for free or reduced lunch and only 8 percent are English learners. There, in 2025, 24.2 percent of students reached expectations for mathematics and 51.5 reached expectations for reading.
Even though Higher Ground Academy Secondary has, on paper, students with incredible disadvantages, this charter school is performing at the same level (or beating) the local public school with seemingly more advantaged students. The ability to exceed the expectations the student body’s poverty predicted has earned it the Star-Tribune’s title of “beating the odds.”
The Star-Tribune found that most of the metro schools that were “beating the odds” were charter schools, while many of the schools highlighted in Greater Minnesota were public.
These fifty schools highlighted by the Star-Tribune prove the fundamental thesis of education: that careful teaching and pedagogy can and will raise anyone out of their life circumstances, no matter how dismal.
The goal should be for all schools to deliver strong academic results to their students, no matter their student demographics. In Minnesota, where test scores remain so low that Minnesota’s Federal Reserve Bank labeled the situation a “statewide crisis,” that seems a daunting prospect. Yet other states have shown that careful policymaking, strong leadership, and consistent accountability has exceptional results: just ask the Southern Surge states.
Minnesota should not simply expect that poor students will have poor test scores. For that matter, Minnesota should not expect that these low test scores will continue. While it’s important to raise the ceiling for test scores, it’s perhaps more timely to think about raising the floor. High expectations are a strong foundation for high student success. Administrators should consider studying high-performing, high-poverty schools in order to replicate their success.
Increased community involvement with school boards and school advisory boards, advocacy work for wise statewide mandates, and thoughtful local volunteer work can help create change. The schools that “beat the odds” should be the rule, not the exception.
