The top reported proficiency rate is 44% in English language arts. The lowest is 13% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Coon Rapids Middle School
Coon Rapids Middle School serves grades six through eight as a regular public school within the Anoka-Hennepin School District, one of the largest districts in Minnesota. The school is located in Coon Rapids, a primarily residential northern suburb of Minneapolis situated along the Mississippi River. The community is car-dependent in its daily layout but offers an extensive system of parks and trails, including the large Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park and Bunker Hills Regional Park, which features a major outdoor water park. Major employers include a large health system, the school district itself, and several manufacturing and retail firms. The city grew rapidly in past decades and now anticipates steady, moderate growth. Housing values in the area sit close to the statewide benchmark, making this a middle-market suburban housing environment relative to the rest of the state.
The school enrolls a substantial student body for a middle school in this grade band. The student population is diverse. The largest racial or ethnic group is white students, followed by Black students, students who identify with two or more races, Asian students, and Hispanic students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which indicates that a notable portion of families in the attendance area have lower household incomes. Data on special education identification and English learner status were not available for this narrative, so a reader may want to ask the school about those programs and supports directly.
On the most recent state assessments, the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades was above the midpoint among districts in Anoka County, a metric that reflects a moderate performance position relative to local peers. In math, proficiency rates varied by grade, with one grade level showing a higher proficiency rate and another showing a lower one. The overall math proficiency for the school across all tested grades was a little over a third of students meeting the state standard. In English language arts, proficiency rates were somewhat higher than in math, though they also varied by grade. One grade level showed a proficiency rate near the midpoint of the school’s range, while another grade was lower and one was higher. While the grade-level differences were not extreme, a parent with a child entering a particular grade may want to look into this further with the school, since the variation suggests that student performance is not uniform from year to year. Science results, which are tested only in eighth grade, showed a notably lower proficiency rate, with about one in eight students meeting the state standard. That figure stands out as a soft spot in the school’s academic picture, and a parent may want to ask about science instruction and curriculum, especially given that the state changed the science assessment and its cut scores in this testing cycle, which can affect year-to-year comparisons.
The school is a regular public school and is not a charter or magnet school. Data on Title I status was not available. Information on disciplinary actions, course access, staffing ratios, chronic absenteeism, and student attendance was also absent from the available records. Because the school serves only middle grades, there is no graduation rate to report, which is expected for this grade range. The same applies to postsecondary readiness metrics such as college enrollment or career pathway completion, which are typically measured at the high school level.
Overall, Coon Rapids Middle School offers a racially diverse, economically mixed student body and sits in a largely residential suburb with ample parks and commuter rail access to Minneapolis. Its academic results are moderate when compared with other districts in Anoka County, with English language arts performance as a relative strength and science performance as a clear area where families may want to seek more detail. The lack of several standard data fields, including staffing, discipline, and attendance, means that a parent relying on this profile may need to supplement it with direct inquiry at the school.
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