Athlos Leadership Academy, Brooklyn Park MN

Original Research by School Decision on Athlos Leadership Academy

Athlos Leadership Academy is a charter school in Brooklyn Park serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. It operates as its own single-school district, so what a parent might expect from a district office is contained within the school itself. The school draws students from across the suburban landscape of this large, car-oriented city, which sits on the west bank of the Mississippi River in northern Hennepin County. Brooklyn Park has no traditional downtown core; it is a mix of residential subdivisions, commercial corridors along major highways, and even some remaining farmland. The city has seen a slight population decline in recent years, though it remains the sixth-largest in the state.

The school describes itself as a regular public school, and its charter status means it operates with some autonomy from the larger area school districts that also serve Brooklyn Park families. Enrollment is substantial for a K-8 school. The student body is predominantly Black, with a much smaller share of students who identify as two or more races, a smaller share who are Hispanic, and a smaller share still who are white. A substantial share of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school in a high-poverty context.

Academically, the state testing data offers a mixed picture. In reading, proficiency rates across the tested grades hover near the middle of a modest range, with the highest rates in the upper elementary and middle school grades. In math, the picture is weaker. Rates start in a moderate range in the early elementary grades but drop to a noticeably low level by sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, where only a small share of students meet the state standard. In science, tested in fifth and eighth grades, proficiency is at a low level, and the eighth-grade results are particularly low. The school’s overall proficiency index across all tested subjects and grades lands above the midpoint among districts in Hennepin County, meaning it performs better than the typical district in this large, diverse county, though still well below the highest-performing ones.

Because the school serves only through eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report, and the absence of high school metrics is a direct function of the grade band. A parent looking ahead to high school would need to consider the options available through the three school districts that serve Brooklyn Park, or other charter and private options. No chronic absenteeism data was available, and the data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported in a way that allowed for a clear picture of those populations.

Program offerings, course access, and staffing ratios were not provided in the data reviewed. The school’s website and the district-level search turned up no recent information about curriculum changes, referendum plans, or other large-scale shifts that would affect a family’s decision in the near term. A parent may want to inquire directly with the school about the specific programs, electives, and supports it offers, particularly in the middle school years where the academic numbers raise questions about preparation for high school.

The housing market in the school’s immediate area reflects the broader Twin Cities suburbs. Home values sit modestly above the state average, and rents have been rising at a noticeable clip. The national economic context of a moderate unemployment rate and mortgage rates that have ticked up from recent lows means that affordability in this corner of Hennepin County is a factor families will weigh alongside academic fit.

Athlos Leadership Academy is a school where a family will find a large, diverse student body within a high-poverty charter setting, with reading scores that are not far from the county norm but math and science results that are significantly lower, especially as students move through the grades. The school’s strength is its relative position within the county, above the middle of the pack, but the absolute numbers at the upper grade levels are soft enough that a parent would want to understand how the school supports students who are behind and what its approach to middle school math and science looks like.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 345%

School 45% · District 45%

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 47%

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 7 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 616%

School 16% · District 16%

▼ 12 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 714%

School 14% · District 14%

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 36%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 425%

School 25% · District 25%

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 44%

▼ 10 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 640%

School 40% · District 40%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 737%

School 37% · District 37%

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 845%

School 45% · District 45%

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Science

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 17%

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 810%

School 10% · District 10%

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

This schoolAthlos Leadership Academy, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income32%Higher-income46%14 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income20%Higher-income38%18 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income40%Higher-income58%18 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income39%Higher-income44%5 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income38%Higher-income33%4 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income41%Higher-income56%14 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income46%Higher-income42%3 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income45%Higher-income52%8 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income26%3 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income13%Higher-income28%15 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income17%Higher-income0%16 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income18%Higher-income22%4 pp gap