The top reported proficiency rate is 58% in English language arts. The lowest is 31% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Seven Hills -bloomington Elementary
Seven Hills - Bloomington Elementary is a charter school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Bloomington, Minnesota. It belongs to the Seven Hills Preparatory Academy charter network, which means it operates as a public school with its own governing board, outside the traditional Bloomington school district. The school occupies a single building on Bloomington Avenue South in a residential and commercial part of the city.
Bloomington is a large, post-war suburb of Minneapolis, shaped by the housing boom after World War II. It has more jobs per person than either Minneapolis or Saint Paul, thanks in large part to the Mall of America and a concentration of corporate headquarters. The city is car-oriented, served by multiple freeways, though the Metro Blue Line light rail connects it to downtown Minneapolis. About a third of Bloomington is parkland, including the Minnesota Valley wetlands and Hyland Lake Park Reserve. For a family living here, daily life is suburban, with strip commercial corridors, a dispersed set of civic facilities, and no traditional downtown core.
Academically, Seven Hills - Bloomington Elementary performs well relative to other schools in Dakota County. Its overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the top quarter of the county’s districts. In both math and reading, proficiency rates for third, fourth, and fifth graders are well above the county median. The strongest results are in reading, where about three in five fifth graders meet state standards. Math proficiency is also solid, hovering around half of students or a bit more across the grade levels tested. Science, tested only in fifth grade, shows a lower proficiency rate; a parent may want to follow up with the school about how science is taught and supported. The assessment data covers only one school year, so there is no trend to examine yet.
The student body is diverse. White students are the largest single group, but Asian and Black students each make up a substantial share, and there are smaller populations of Hispanic and multiracial students. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a standard measure of economic need. Enrollment is spread fairly evenly across the elementary grades, with around eighty to one hundred students per grade level, giving the school a moderate overall size for an elementary. Information on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the data we reviewed, nor was the school’s Title I status. Families with children who receive special education services or are learning English should ask the school directly about the supports available.
The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. No civil rights data, discipline figures, or staff-to-student ratios were provided. The absence of these details is not unusual for an elementary charter, but a parent may want to request them during a visit.
Homes in the ZIP code around the school are valued near the Minnesota state median, and rents are moderate. The local housing market has recently seen a small dip. The broader Minneapolis metro area’s unemployment rate is low, and median household income is above the national average.
Seven Hills Preparatory Academy, the charter district that runs this school, has received public recognition for its Classical Education model and was named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2022. No recent referendum, curriculum change, or other structural shift with a lasting impact for parents was publicly reported.
For a family considering this school, the strongest draw is academic performance that stands out among Dakota County peers. The diverse, economically mixed student body offers a peer environment that reflects the broader metro area. The charter structure means the school has its own approach to curriculum and governance, which some families value. The missing data on special populations is the one note of caution, but it does not diminish what is a well-regarded elementary option in a well-resourced suburb.
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