The top reported proficiency rate is 79% in English language arts. The lowest is 53% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Lila Kinder Center
LILA Kinder Center is a charter school in Forest Lake, Minnesota, serving only the earliest grades. It is part of the Lakes International Language Academy district, a charter network in the northwestern corner of Washington County. The school enrolls a small student body, all of whom are in kindergarten, with a prekindergarten program also listed as part of its grade span. Because the school serves only these early grades, several data points that matter to families with older students simply do not apply here. There is no graduation rate, no college readiness metrics, no advanced coursework, and no state testing results for the grades it currently teaches, since Minnesota does not administer its statewide assessments at the kindergarten level.
The school sits within Forest Lake, a rapidly growing suburban community roughly a half-hour northeast of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The city describes itself as having a small-town feel, with lakes, agricultural pursuits, outdoor recreation, and family-friendly amenities. It is a car-oriented, low-density place, with residential subdivisions, lakefront areas, and commercial strips along highway corridors. Civic functions cluster along Lake Street near the lake itself, but the school is not located in a walkable downtown core. The area has seen notable population growth in recent decades, largely driven by the annexation of surrounding township land, and the city continues to invest in facilities such as a new sports center for hockey and skating. Housing values in the area sit above both the state and national benchmarks, and rents have been climbing, reflecting the broader Twin Cities metro pressure.
The student body is predominantly white, with a notable Hispanic share and smaller representation of Asian, Black, and multiracial students. About a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure that gives a sense of the economic diversity present. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the source material, so a parent wanting to understand the school’s special education or language support offerings would need to ask the school directly.
The school’s charter status means it operates independently of the local Forest Lake Area School District, with its own governing board and enrollment process. Families choosing LILA Kinder Center are opting into a specific educational program rather than their zoned neighborhood school. The district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes such as property tax referendums or curriculum overhauls, leaving the academic direction and any upcoming shifts a matter to explore with the school.
There is older testing data in the record from a time when this site was operating under a different name, Lila Annex, and served fifth graders. In that year, proficiency rates in reading, math, and science were reported, and the composite measure placed the school in the top quartile among the dozen districts in Washington County when compared on overall proficiency. But those results come from a different grade configuration and a different school iteration. They are not a picture of the current kindergarten program, and a parent should not treat them as a measure of what LILA Kinder Center offers its youngest students today.
For a family considering this school, the central facts are these. It is a small, single-grade charter center with a specific language-immersion orientation as part of the Lakes International Language Academy network. It operates in a growing, car-dependent suburban community with above-average housing costs. The academic evidence that typically informs school choice, such as state test scores, is absent because of the grade band. Families will want to visit, talk to staff about the curriculum and the school’s approach to early learning, and ask about the language program that the school’s name promises, since the source material contained no details on what that program looks like in practice.
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