The top reported proficiency rate is 38% in English language arts. The lowest is 23% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Urban Academy
Urban Academy is a single-school district in Ramsey County serving students from prekindergarten through eighth grade. Because the district ends at grade eight, there is no high school, no graduation rate to report, and no data on college readiness or advanced coursework beyond the middle school level. That structure alone tells a parent a great deal: anyone looking for a K-12 district will need to plan for high school elsewhere.
The district enrolls a small number of students. The student body is overwhelmingly Asian, with a much smaller share of Black students and very small numbers of white, Hispanic, Native American, and multiracial students. Information on economic disadvantage, special education, and English learner status is not available in the data we examined, so a family wanting to understand the share of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch or those with individualized education plans would need to follow up directly with the school.
State assessment results for the most recent year show a pattern that varies noticeably by grade and subject. In math, proficiency rates in third through seventh grades sit in a modest range, with sixth grade the lowest point and seventh grade higher. Eighth grade stands apart, with a large majority of students meeting proficiency, the strongest math performance in the district. In English language arts, the picture is more uneven. Fourth grade shows a very small share of students proficient, while fifth and eighth grades both show a majority meeting the bar. Third, sixth, and seventh grades fall somewhere in the middle, each with about a third of students proficient. Science is tested in fifth and eighth grades; proficiency rates in both are low, and it is worth noting that the state changed the science assessment and its cut scores in this testing year, so direct comparisons to prior years may not be reliable.
When placed among the other districts in Ramsey County, Urban Academy’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint of the county’s districts. That positioning is a meaningful strength given the district’s small scale. The chronic absenteeism rate is low, placing Urban Academy in the top quartile of Ramsey County districts for low absenteeism, which tends to correlate with consistent school engagement. Per-pupil current spending is in the upper half of the middle range among the county’s districts, suggesting the district is not especially lean but also not at the very high end of spending.
The district brief, based on publicly reported information, did not turn up recent policy, curriculum, referendum, or structural changes that would meet the bar of a lasting parent-relevant shift. That means there is no major upheaval or new program to weigh, but also no clear signal about where the district may be heading next.
For a parent, Urban Academy offers a small setting with a predominantly Asian student body, a K-8 structure that avoids the transition to a separate middle school, and academic performance that is broadly middle-of-the-pack in the county with some standout points in eighth-grade math and fifth-grade ELA. The weakness in fourth-grade reading and in elementary and middle school science are areas a parent may want to investigate further with the school, as they could reflect instructional priorities or student support needs that are not visible from the test scores alone. With no high school, families will need to look ahead to the surrounding districts or private options for grades nine through twelve, and the absence of data on special education and English learner services means those populations may want to ask specific questions early.
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