Secondary Virtual School, Anoka MN

Original Research by School Decision on Secondary Virtual School

Secondary Virtual School, part of the Anoka-Hennepin School District, serves students from grades six through twelve in a fully online format. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and is open to students across the district who choose a remote learning pathway. The school operates out of an administrative address on West Highway 10 in Anoka, though its day-to-day work is fully virtual, so there is no physical campus where students gather.

Enrollment is concentrated in the upper grades. The student body is small for a secondary school serving six grade levels, with the vast majority of students in grades eleven and twelve. A modest number of students are in grades nine and ten, and no students were enrolled in grades six through eight in the reported year. The student population is predominantly white, with a meaningful share of students identifying as two or more races, and smaller shares who are Asian, Black, or Hispanic. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a population with meaningful economic diversity.

On state assessments, proficiency rates vary by subject and grade. In math, proficiency rates were below the midpoint of what Anoka County districts report for overall proficiency. Across the grades tested, the share of students scoring proficient or above was modest. In reading and English language arts, results were mixed: sixth graders posted a strong proficiency rate, while seventh and eighth graders were lower. In science, only a small fraction of eighth graders scored proficient. These results come from a year when participation rates on state tests were low. A parent considering this school may want to discuss with administrators how assessment participation works for virtual students and what the school is doing to support academic growth in subjects where results are softer.

The Anoka-Hennepin district itself is Minnesota’s largest, serving a wide geographic area that includes Anoka and many of its suburbs. The district brief turned up no major recent changes to report, so the operational context appears stable from a parent’s perspective. The school’s virtual format is its defining feature, not its location. Anoka is the county seat, a northern Twin Cities suburb with a historic downtown, the confluence of the Rum and Mississippi Rivers, and a modest population growth pattern. Housing values in the area are above the national median, with rent also above the national median, reflecting the broader Twin Cities metro market. The area has a mix of older residential neighborhoods and light industrial employers, and the city’s main road arteries provide access to the wider region.

Graduation rate data was not available, which is a gap a family might want to follow up on, particularly since the school serves a large concentration of upper-grade students. Data on chronic absenteeism, special education enrollment, and English learner status were also missing. These are common gaps for a virtual school where attendance and student classifications can be tracked differently than in a brick-and-mortar setting, but they are still information a parent would want to request directly from the school.

This is a school for a family specifically seeking a virtual secondary education. It does not offer the same peer environment or extracurricular structure as a traditional school. The academic results suggest that students enter with a range of preparation and that some grade levels are finding more success than others in the online format. A parent should weigh the flexibility of remote learning against the support systems the school has in place for students who are not yet proficient in core subjects, and should ask directly about graduation pathways and how the school prepares its large cohort of seniors for life after high school.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

70-74%Cohort of 89 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

649 schools plotted. 88 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 627%

School 27% · District 47% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 725%

School 25% · District 49% · ▼ 24 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 49% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 673%

School 73% · District 57% · ▲ 16 pts above district

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

Grade 742%

School 42% · District 52% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 827%

School 27% · District 49% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · even with county median

Science

Grade 810%

School 10% · District 20% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

This schoolAnoka-Hennepin School District, 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.