Eagle Ridge Academy Lower School, Minnetonka MN

Original Research by School Decision on Eagle Ridge Academy Lower School

Eagle Ridge Academy Lower School serves kindergarten through fifth grade and is a charter school in Minnetonka. It is part of a single-school district, Eagle Ridge Academy Charter School. The student body is large for an elementary school, and the makeup is notably diverse by Minnesota standards. More than four out of ten students are Asian, over a quarter are Black, and about one in five is White, with smaller shares identifying as two or more races or Hispanic. About a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that sits below the national average and reflects a relatively more affluent peer context.

The school’s academic performance is strong. On math assessments, the share of students demonstrating proficiency consistently measured well above state averages across grades three, four, and five. Reading results were more varied. In third and fifth grade, proficiency was solid. Fourth-grade reading was a soft spot, with about half of students reaching the proficiency bar. This is the one grade-level subject result that gives a parent something to ask about. Science results for fifth grade were lower, with a smaller share of students proficient than in math or reading. Because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate, and no chronic absenteeism data was available in the source materials.

The overall proficiency index placed Eagle Ridge Academy Lower School in the top quartile relative to the school districts in Hennepin County, which are the grouping the comparison uses. This suggests that despite the dip in fourth-grade reading and the weaker fifth-grade science, the school’s combined academic profile is competitive within the broader county’s public schools.

Minnetonka is a primarily residential western suburb of Minneapolis, about a ten-mile drive from downtown. It does not have a traditional downtown. The historic Minnetonka Mills area, once a trading center around a sawmill on Minnehaha Creek, is gone. Today the city is a collection of neighborhoods and corporate office campuses, including the headquarters of Cargill and UnitedHealth Group. The built environment is auto-oriented, with commercial areas along highway corridors rather than a walkable main street. The city has an extensive trail network. Its population has been relatively stable in recent years.

Eagle Ridge Academy is a charter school, which means it operates independently of the Minnetonka public school district boundaries. Children who live in Minnetonka may also be zoned for the Hopkins, Minnetonka, or Wayzata school districts depending on their neighborhood. This layered geography means that for many families, choosing Eagle Ridge Academy is an active selection, not an assignment by address.

No recent district-level changes, such as policy shifts, curriculum changes, or referendums, were reported in the available data. The charter school district itself has seen enrollment growth, but no specific parent-relevant developments beyond that were found.

This school fits a family looking for a charter school with a diverse elementary student body and above-average academic results in the early grades. The fourth-grade reading result gives a parent a specific point for follow-up. The lack of a walkable school setting is consistent with the suburban character of Minnetonka. The absence of data on special education and English learner enrollment makes it harder to evaluate the support infrastructure for those students. A parent with a child who needs those services should ask the school directly.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 384%

School 84% · District 84%

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

Grade 475%

School 75% · District 75%

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

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 71%

▲ 36 pts above state median · ▲ 42 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 366%

School 66% · District 66%

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

Grade 453%

School 53% · District 53%

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

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 71%

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

Science

Grade 539%

School 39% · District 39%

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

This schoolEAGLE RIDGE ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL, 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-income49%Higher-income73%24 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income22%Higher-income71%50 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income47%Higher-income80%33 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income64%Higher-income92%28 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income53%Higher-income87%34 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income50%Higher-income78%28 pp gap