Legacy of Dr Josie R Johnson Montes, Minneapolis MN

Original Research by School Decision on Legacy of Dr Josie R Johnson Montes

Legacy of Dr. Josie R. Johnson Montessori, often referred to as JJ Legacy, is a charter school located in north Minneapolis, serving students in kindergarten through sixth grade. It operates as a single-school district with a Montessori pedagogical approach. The school is named after a noted Minnesota civil rights leader, and its identity is tied to that legacy and its choice of Montessori methods.

Because the school serves only elementary and middle grades, it does not have a graduation rate to report. The student body is small, and most students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The racial composition is predominantly Black, with a smaller share of students identifying as two or more races, and very few White, Hispanic, or American Indian students. Data on the share of students receiving special education services or identified as English learners was not available.

The school’s state assessment results, which are one measure of academic performance, show that proficiency rates in math are low across all tested grades, with no tested group reaching a level where most students met the state’s proficiency standard. In reading, a similarly low pattern appears in most grades, though sixth grade shows a noticeably higher share of students scoring at or above the proficiency benchmark than the other tested grade levels. The fifth-grade science results also show low proficiency. When placed among school districts across Hennepin County on a combined proficiency index, this school falls within the bottom quartile. Parents reviewing these results will want to understand what academic and curricular supports the school provides, particularly for students who are below grade-level expectations.

Minneapolis is a dense urban city, the state's most populous, with a broad economy anchored by corporate headquarters, the University of Minnesota’s main campus, and major cultural institutions. The school is located in the north side of the city, a part of Minneapolis that has historically seen less private investment than some other areas. The city is served by Metro Transit buses and light rail, and the school sits within a neighborhood of older housing stock and a mix of commercial and residential uses.

The district brief reports a critical development: the school closed during the 2023-2024 school year. According to publicly reported sources, the closure was driven by a severe negative fund balance and enrollment that fell well short of projections. The Minnesota Department of Education listed the school as not active, and the district’s NCES record shows a closed status with no schools operating for the 2024-2025 school year. This means that as of the time of this writing, Legacy of Dr. Josie R. Johnson Montessori is no longer open, and families who might have considered it will need to look at other options in the Minneapolis area. No program offerings or course access data were available to report. The housing market in the school’s ZIP code shows home values that are below both the state and national benchmarks, with rents rising. The economic context includes a national mortgage rate that has fluctuated in recent months and a national unemployment rate that has held steady.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 323%

School 23% · District 23%

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 40%

School 0% · District 0%

▼ 51 pts below state median · ▼ 43 pts below county median

Grade 56%

School 6% · District 6%

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 615%

School 15% · District 15%

▼ 12 pts below state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 315%

School 15% · District 15%

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 40%

School 0% · District 0%

▼ 41 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 646%

School 46% · District 46%

even with state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Science

Grade 513%

School 13% · District 13%

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

This schoolLegacy of Dr Josie R Johnson Montes, 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.