Original Research by School Decision on Choice Academy
Choice Academy is an alternative high school serving grades nine through twelve within the Bloomington Public School District in Hennepin County. It is not a charter school. The school operates with a focused and specific mission: its enrollment of roughly 120 students is overwhelmingly concentrated in the senior class, with a very small number of juniors and no freshman or sophomore students reported. This grade distribution signals that Choice Academy functions as a targeted graduation-completion program, likely designed for students who need a non-traditional setting to finish high school.
The student body is diverse. Hispanic students make up the largest share, followed closely by white students. Black students and students identifying with two or more races each account for a substantial part of the population, and there are also small numbers of Asian and American Indian or Alaska Native students. A large majority of students come from low-income households, as measured by eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available.
Academically, the school presents a single data point for the most recent school year: an 8.3% proficiency rate in math for all tested students. This is a low figure. Because the school serves only one year of grade-level testing for most of its students—seniors are at the end of their high school careers and many may not be taking state assessments in the traditional way—the available test data is extremely limited. The comparison fact-set for proficiency, graduation rate, and chronic absenteeism was not applicable to this school, so there is no way to position Choice Academy against other high schools in Hennepin County on those standard metrics. A parent should ask the school directly about its academic expectations, how students are assessed, and what the typical outcomes are for graduates.
The Bloomington district context matters. Bloomington is a large, post-World War II suburb of Minneapolis, heavily car-oriented but connected to the city by light rail and bus lines. It has more jobs per capita than either Minneapolis or Saint Paul, anchored by the Mall of America and corporate headquarters for companies like HealthPartners, Dairy Queen, and Toro. The city has a slight population decline since the 2020 census. Housing in the Bloomington area carries a typical cost that is modestly above the statewide benchmark, and rents have been rising. A large portion of the city is set aside as parkland.
For families in the Bloomington district, alternative options exist. The district runs a fully online K-12 school called New Code Academy, open to any Minnesota family and taught by licensed Bloomington teachers. The Bloomington Career and College Academy allows high school students to take college courses and earn credit. At the elementary and middle school level, the district has a Computer Science Immersion program in partnership with the University of Minnesota. Choice Academy itself, as an alternative school, is the district’s designated pathway for students who are closer to their diploma but need a different structure to finish.
Choice Academy fits a specific student. It is a small, senior-heavy, low-income-serving alternative school in a large suburban district with a strong employment base. The academic proficiency data is thin and the math result is low. A parent considering this school will want to understand the school’s own definition of success for its seniors—the graduation rate was not reported in the available data—and what support structures, such as credit recovery, counseling, or post-graduation planning, are in place. For a student who has not succeeded in a traditional comprehensive high school and is near the finish line, Choice Academy may offer the right environment. For a student looking for a full four-year high school experience or a broad range of advanced coursework, it is not that kind of place.
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