Aspen Academy, Savage MN - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Aspen Academy

Aspen Academy is a charter school serving kindergarten through eighth grade in Savage, a suburban bedroom community roughly 15-20 miles south of downtown Minneapolis in Scott County. The city sits between Highway 13 and Interstate 35W, with a small historic downtown of about 17 blocks along Highway 13 and a broader landscape of big-box retailers, industrial manufacturing areas, and greenfield sections that include parts of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge and Murphy-Hanrehan Park Reserve. Population growth has been steady since the 1980s, when improved highway access and a new bridge across the Minnesota River opened low-cost land for development. Three school districts serve Savage, but Aspen Academy operates as its own district, a single-school charter authorized independently of the surrounding district boundaries.

The school is a regular public charter school. About a third of its students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is racially and ethnically diverse: white students make up roughly half the enrollment, with Black and Asian students each representing notable shares, and smaller numbers of students who are two or more races, Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. The school is relatively large for a K-8 charter, drawing from across a growing exurban area. Charter status means the school operates under its own board and has some flexibility in curriculum and programming, though it remains publicly funded and open to all students by application.

State testing data is available for the 2024-25 school year. In reading, proficiency rates across grades three through eight clustered around the midpoint, with grade five showing a notably stronger result. In math, the pattern was more varied: third and fourth graders posted rates above the midpoint, while fifth and sixth graders were weaker, and seventh graders were lower still, before a modest recovery in eighth grade. Science results were available for grades five and eight, with grade five showing a proficiency rate well below the midpoint and grade eight at a much lower level. A parent may want to follow up with the school about the trajectory of math and science performance as students move into the upper middle grades.

Overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits just above the midpoint when compared with other districts in Scott County. This positions Aspen Academy in the middle of the pack among the county’s nine districts, neither at the top nor near the bottom. Because the school serves only grades K-8, there is no high school graduation rate to report, and data on chronic absenteeism and student discipline was not available.

The district brief turned up little in the way of recent parent-relevant changes. No recent referenda, property-tax shifts, or district-wide restructuring were found in publicly available sources. The school’s founding history and curriculum approach are described online, but no major operational changes were identified.

Housing values in the school’s zip code are above both the state and national medians. Rents are also above average. This reflects the broader Savage market, where greenfield development and access to the Twin Cities metro have sustained demand. The economic context nationally shows a 30-year fixed mortgage rate just above six percent, an unemployment rate just above four percent, and real median household income that has edged up over the past several years. These factors matter for families considering a move to this area, as the cost of housing in Savage is a meaningful part of the decision.

For a family weighing this school, the picture is one of a mid-sized charter with a diverse student body, a suburban exurban setting with considerable recent growth, and academic results that land around the middle of the county. The early elementary grades show stronger math proficiency, but the pattern through the middle grades is more uneven, and science scores are a soft spot worth investigating. The school’s charter governance means it offers an alternative to the area’s three traditional public school districts, but a family should look closely at whether the academic trajectory through the upper grades matches their expectations for middle school preparation.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 372%

School 72% · District 72%

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 467%

School 67% · District 67%

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 49%

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 33%

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

Grade 732%

School 32% · District 32%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 844%

School 44% · District 44%

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 356%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 451%

School 51% · District 51%

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

Grade 577%

School 77% · District 77%

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 652%

School 52% · District 52%

▲ 6 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 749%

School 49% · District 49%

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 854%

School 54% · District 54%

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Science

Grade 536%

School 36% · District 36%

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 811%

School 11% · District 11%

▼ 1 pts below state median

This schoolASPEN 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-income41%Higher-income63%22 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income38%Higher-income58%20 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income78%Higher-income77%1 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income46%Higher-income57%10 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income32%Higher-income64%32 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income53%Higher-income56%3 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income55%Higher-income81%26 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income47%Higher-income80%33 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income47%Higher-income51%4 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income25%Higher-income40%15 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income9%Higher-income52%43 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income47%Higher-income41%6 pp gap