Laura Jeffrey Academy Charter, Saint Paul MN

Original Research by School Decision on Laura Jeffrey Academy Charter

Laura Jeffrey Academy Charter is a small middle school serving grades five through eight in Saint Paul. It operates as a single-school charter district, meaning it functions as its own district, separate from the larger Saint Paul Public Schools system. The school occupies a building on Summit Avenue, a historic street known for its mansions and the Minnesota Governor's Residence, placing it in an affluent and architecturally notable corridor of the city.

The student body is small for a middle school, with the largest cohort in eighth grade and the smallest in fifth grade. The racial and ethnic composition is predominantly White, with a notable presence of students who identify as two or more races, and smaller but still visible shares of Black and Hispanic students. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a moderate level for a school in this zip code. Data on special education identification and English learner status was not available from the reporting system, which a parent may want to clarify directly with the school.

Academically, the school shows a varied picture across subjects and grades. In English language arts, performance is strong: a large majority of students in each grade meet state standards, with eighth graders performing at a very high level. Math proficiency is lower overall, but the data shows a clear upward trajectory from fifth through eighth grade, with the older cohort reaching a much higher rate than the younger ones. Science results, available only for fifth and eighth grades, show about half of students proficient. Because the school serves only middle grades, there is no graduation rate or high school outcome data to examine. Only one year of state testing data was available, so there is no trend to compare.

When placed among the fifty-one school districts in Ramsey County, Laura Jeffrey Academy Charter lands in the top quarter for overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades. That is a strong position for a small middle school, especially one with a relatively high proportion of students from lower-income households.

The school is a charter, which means it has a distinct governing board and may have a particular educational approach, though program details were not provided in the data. The locale brief notes that Saint Paul is a dense, diverse capital city with a strong park system and a mix of government, commercial, and residential life. Housing values in the immediate zip code are well above both state and national medians, consistent with the Summit Avenue neighborhood's historic and premium character.

Much of what parents typically look for—attendance rates, chronic absenteeism, discipline data, staffing ratios, and course offerings—was absent from the available records. Similarly, no recent district-level changes or strategic priorities were found during research. A family interested in this school would likely need to visit and ask about these operational and programmatic details directly.

In sum, Laura Jeffrey Academy Charter offers a small, academically uneven but improving middle school experience in a high-cost Saint Paul neighborhood. Its strongest academic showing is in English language arts, and its overall proficiency index outperforms most districts in Ramsey County. It fits a family seeking a relatively tight-knit middle school setting for grades five through eight, with the understanding that math and science outcomes are weaker and that some standard school performance indicators are not publicly available here.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 23%

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 626%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 738%

School 38% · District 38%

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 55%

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 37 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 581%

School 81% · District 81%

▲ 27 pts above state median · ▲ 41 pts above county median

Grade 665%

School 65% · District 65%

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

Grade 768%

School 68% · District 68%

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 40 pts above county median

Grade 896%

School 96% · District 96%

▲ 60 pts above state median · ▲ 63 pts above county median

Science

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 36 pts above county median

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 38 pts above state median · ▲ 39 pts above county median

This schoolLAURA JEFFREY ACADEMY CHARTER, 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.