Notre Ecole Academy, Golden Valley MN

Original Research by School Decision on Notre Ecole Academy

Notre Ecole Academy is a tuition-free public charter school in Golden Valley that opened in fall 2020, offering French language immersion combined with a STEAM focus for kindergarten through fourth grade. The school’s program integrates project-based learning, critical thinking, and social-emotional development, all delivered in a bilingual environment. As a charter school, it draws students from across the region rather than from a single attendance zone.

State testing results are available for grade 3, the only grade at this school that participates in Minnesota’s standardized assessments. In math, a large majority of third graders met state standards. In reading, less than half did. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages results across tested subjects and grades, places it below the midpoint among districts in Hennepin County. Given that the school serves only early-elementary grades and has a small enrollment, these results come from a handful of students and should be interpreted with that in mind. No high school outcomes such as graduation rate exist because the school does not serve those grades.

The student body is small and diverse in composition. White students make up the largest share, followed by smaller proportions of students who are Black, Asian, of two or more races, and Hispanic. The share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch is modest, well below county and state averages. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available.

Golden Valley is a first-ring suburb west of Minneapolis. The city is mostly residential, with corporate headquarters such as General Mills and Allianz Life Insurance anchoring the local economy. A large share of the city’s land is devoted to parks and nature reserves. The built environment is car-oriented, shaped by four major highways and mid-century suburban neighborhoods, without a traditional walkable downtown. The city’s population has been gradually declining in recent years.

Housing in Golden Valley includes a mix of single-family homes and rental properties. Typical home values and rents in the area fall near the middle of the range for the Twin Cities metro. The school itself is located on Golden Valley Road, a major east-west corridor.

For a family seeking an elementary school with a strong language-immersion component and a STEM-oriented curriculum, Notre Ecole Academy offers a distinctive public option in a suburban setting. The school’s early performance in reading may be a point for families to ask about directly. Because the school is small and relatively new, its future trajectory and ability to maintain its program will bear watching.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 377%

School 77% · District 77%

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

Grade 40%

School 0% · district not reported

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

Grade 50%

School 0% · district not reported

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

English language arts

Grade 339%

School 39% · District 39%

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 40%

School 0% · district not reported

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

Grade 50%

School 0% · district not reported

▼ 54 pts below state median · ▼ 44 pts below county median

This schoolNotre Ecole 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.