The top reported proficiency rate is 9% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on La Crescent Montessori & Stem Acad
La Crescent Montessori & STEM Academy is a public charter school serving kindergarten through sixth grade, located in the small Mississippi River town of La Crescent, Minnesota. The school’s name signals a dual instructional focus, but no detailed program offerings were available in the data to demonstrate how the Montessori method and STEM curriculum are implemented. As a charter school, it is tuition-free and open to any student in the region.
La Crescent bills itself as the "Apple Capital of Minnesota," a primarily residential community of modest size that sits along the bluffs of the river, just a short drive from La Crosse, Wisconsin. The population has been essentially flat in recent years, and the housing market shows home values roughly in line with state and national averages, with moderate year-over-year appreciation. The town offers a downtown core, a public library, parks, and a pedestrian trail system that connects to the larger La Crosse area. The school itself is one of several options in the region, and its charter status makes it a district of one, separate from the larger La Crescent-Hokah district.
The school is very small, with a total enrollment that reflects a tight-knit setting. The student body is overwhelmingly white, and about one-third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure of economic need. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not reported.
State assessment results, which are available for grades three through six in math and reading, present a picture that families will want to examine carefully. Across most tested grade levels, no students met proficiency standards in either subject. The one exception was fourth grade, where a modest share of students reached proficiency in both math and reading. Because the school’s enrollment is so small, these results are based on very few test-takers, and the overall proficiency rate aggregated across all grades appears higher than the individual grade-level figures suggest. Still, relative to other districts in Houston County, the school’s overall proficiency index sits in the lowest quarter. Science results for fifth grade were suppressed because the number of tested students was too small to report, a common occurrence at schools this size.
Because the school serves only elementary and middle grades, there is no graduation rate to consider. Information on discipline, chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, and course access was not available, so a full picture of the school environment and student supports remains incomplete.
La Crescent Montessori & STEM Academy offers an alternative to the conventional public school structure in a small-town setting, with a pedagogical label that may appeal to families seeking a Montessori approach combined with a STEM emphasis. The very small scale means close relationships but also limited peer diversity and thin academic data from which to draw firm conclusions. For parents considering this school, the academic results, particularly the very low proficiency rates across most grades, are a clear topic for direct conversation with the school leadership.
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