The top reported proficiency rate is 30% in English language arts. The lowest is 10% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Best Academy
Best Academy is a small K-8 district in Hennepin County that operates as a single entity with three schools: a main in-person campus called Best Academy, a program called Mastery School, and Wakanda Virtual Academy, a fully online K-8 option recently added to give families a remote learning choice alongside the in-person setting. The district serves students from kindergarten through eighth grade, so there is no high school, no graduation rate to consider, and no college readiness metrics to evaluate. State testing data is available only for the grades that are tested, which in Minnesota runs from third through eighth grade.
The student body is overwhelmingly Black, and the district is small enough that families will find a relatively close-knit environment, though the exact number of students is on the page for those who want it. Information on the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals, receiving special education services, or classified as English learners is not reported in the available data, so a parent looking for that context would need to contact the district directly.
On the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, proficiency rates across math, reading, and science run well below state averages. In math, the proportion of students scoring at proficient levels is in the low to very low range across all tested grades. Reading results are somewhat higher, particularly in the later elementary grades, but still below what many families in the county would see in other districts. Science results are especially low. When placed alongside other districts in Hennepin County, Best Academy’s overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint. Chronic absenteeism, a measure of how many students miss a substantial amount of school, falls in the bottom quartile among the county's districts, meaning a higher share of students are missing significant instructional time. That is a soft spot that a parent may want to follow up on with the school to understand what supports are in place.
The district spends well above the typical per-pupil rate among Hennepin County districts, landing in the upper range. That higher spending does not translate into higher test scores in the available data, but it may reflect the cost of running multiple small campuses, specialized programs, or support services. The district brief points to several recent structural changes. Wakanda Virtual Academy joined the district as a fully online K-8 option, though the launch date is not specified in public sources. The Best Academy K-8 campus on Penn Avenue in Minneapolis is no longer active, so any family previously tied to that location would now use the main campus on Olson Memorial Highway. And Central Lakes Adventure School, a separate entity, is being consolidated into another Best Academy entity for the coming fiscal year, expanding the district's organizational reach.
The data does not include any information on discipline, staffing ratios, course access, or attendance patterns beyond the chronic absenteeism figure. A parent considering this district should weigh the academic performance picture, the high absenteeism, and the fact that per-pupil spending is elevated but outcomes are low. The addition of a virtual school gives an alternative for families who prefer remote instruction, but the in-person campus remains the core offering. For those who value a small, majority-Black educational setting in a district that is actively reorganizing its footprint, Best Academy may fit, but the test results and absenteeism figures are areas worth investigating further with the school or district leadership.
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