The top reported proficiency rate is 86% in English language arts. The lowest is 82% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Chisago Lakes El.
Chisago Lakes Elementary serves students from prekindergarten through first grade in Chisago City, a small community about 35 miles northeast of the Twin Cities, nestled between Chisago Lake and Green Lake. The school is part of the Chisago Lakes School District. Because this is an early-elementary building, its academic measures cover only what is tested at those grade levels. State testing data was available for third graders at this school in the 2011-12 school year, but that cohort would have moved on long ago; more recent public test results are not included in the available information, so the primary picture of academic performance comes from that single year and should be understood as dated.
In that 2011-12 year, third graders at Chisago Lakes Elementary showed strong proficiency rates on the Minnesota assessments. In math, a large majority of students scored at the proficient level or above, and in reading, an even larger share did. Those results placed the school’s overall proficiency index in the top quartile relative to other districts in Chisago County. Keep in mind that this is a single snapshot from more than a decade ago, and the school has not reported more recent state assessment data in the records reviewed.
The student body is just under 400 children, spread across kindergarten and first grade, with prekindergarten listed as a grade served but showing no enrolled count in the reported data. The population is overwhelmingly white, with small shares of students identifying as Hispanic, two or more races, Asian, Black, or American Indian. About a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a moderate share. The school is a regular public school and not a charter or magnet. Information on special education enrollment, English learner status, and Title I designation was not available.
Chisago City is a car-dependent exurb with a downtown core and strong Swedish heritage. Housing values in the area are moderately above the state benchmark and well above the national median. The median home value supports the area's character as a commuter community for the Twin Cities, where many residents work. The district recently renewed its operating levy in a 2023 referendum, though a companion technology funding question failed, leaving the district without that dedicated revenue stream.
For a family considering this school, the central facts are straightforward. Chisago Lakes Elementary is a small, primarily white early-elementary school in a lakeside commuter town with above-average housing costs. Its most recent available test data, now old, showed strong performance. The school does not serve grades that produce a graduation rate or chronic absenteeism data, so those metrics simply do not apply here. A parent looking for current achievement trends would want to ask the school or district directly for more recent results, as the public data trail thins out beyond that single year. For families in the district, this building feeds into the Chisago Lakes system, where the broader academic pathway would be carried by the upper elementary school, middle school, and high school.
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