Original Research by School Decision on Burnsville Alternative High School
Burnsville Alternative High School is an alternative school serving grades nine through twelve within the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage district. The school is located in Eagan, a large suburban city with a mix of residential neighborhoods and corporate employment centers. The school’s enrollment is small, and the student body is predominantly composed of twelfth graders, with very few tenth and eleventh graders and no reported ninth graders. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
State testing data was available but showed a proficiency rate of zero in both English language arts and math for the school year it was reported. This is an unusual result for a high school with enrolled students. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand how the alternative school setting relates to these assessment outcomes. No four-year graduation rate was available for this school, nor was data on chronic absenteeism. The comparison fact-set for districts in Dakota County could not place this school on those measures because the values were missing.
The district has made notable changes in recent years. It created the ONE91 Virtual Academy, offering a permanent K-12 virtual learning option for families. It also reduced the number of elementary schools from ten to eight, including the closure of an elementary school due to funding constraints, which changed school assignment patterns for families in the area.
The community context for Eagan is that of a car-dependent suburb without a traditional downtown. Major highways and commercial strips connect residential subdivisions, corporate campuses, and civic anchors such as Lebanon Hills Regional Park and the city’s greenway system. The city’s top employers include large corporate headquarters in publishing, health insurance, and logistics. Housing values in the area are in a range similar to the state’s median, and rents are moderately priced relative to incomes.
For a family considering this school, the key takeaway is that it serves a specific population of students who are pursuing a high school diploma through an alternative pathway. The small enrollment and heavy concentration in twelfth grade suggest it functions as a completion-oriented program for students who may have fallen off pace in a traditional setting. The absence of state testing proficiency and the lack of a reported graduation rate mean that standard academic performance benchmarks are not available to evaluate the school. A family would need to speak directly with the school about student outcomes, credit recovery options, and post-graduation plans for its graduates.
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