Original Research by School Decision on Anchor
Anchor is an alternative high school within the Columbia Heights Public School District, serving grades nine through twelve. It is one of several alternative learning options the district offers, alongside a virtual secondary program, all part of a deliberate effort to provide pathways for students who may not fit a conventional classroom setting. The school is small, even by alternative-school standards, with an enrollment that makes it one of the smaller high school settings a family could consider in Anoka County.
The student body reflects the broader diversity of the first-ring suburb it serves. Columbia Heights itself is a compact, densely populated city that borders Minneapolis to the south, with a mix of residential neighborhoods and commercial corridors along Central Avenue and University Avenue. The city has a historic Polish-American character and a walkable downtown node at 40th Avenue and Central Avenue. Housing values in the zip code sit below both the state and national benchmarks, and rents are modest relative to income, making the area accessible for families. The school’s students come from that community: the demographic mix includes a sizable share of Hispanic students and smaller shares of White and American Indian students, and a substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a high level of economic need.
Because Anchor is an alternative school, some of the conventional measures used to evaluate high schools do not apply or are not available. State testing data is sparse. The most recent proficiency results on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, from the 2024-25 school year, show zero percent proficient in both English language arts and math, though the data likely reflects a very small number of test-takers—possibly only a handful of students—and the school’s alternative nature may affect how those results are interpreted. Earlier testing data from 2016-17 for science was suppressed due to a small testing cohort. The comparison fact set across districts in Anoka County notes that an overall proficiency index is not applicable because the entity’s value is missing. Similarly, no graduation rate or chronic absenteeism rate is reported. These gaps are common for small alternative schools, where student populations are often transient or where standard accountability metrics are not a good fit for the school’s mission.
What is clear is that Anchor exists to serve a specific purpose within the district. The district as a whole has invested in alternative pathways: Virtual Heights Secondary for grades six through twelve and the Anchor program are listed as lasting options. North Park Elementary has been redesignated as North Park School for Innovation, signaling a STEM or innovation focus at the elementary level. But for families considering Anchor, the central question is whether the school’s small, alternative environment matches their student’s needs. There is no publicly available data on course access, staffing ratios, discipline, or attendance, so a parent would want to ask the school directly about those details.
The housing context matters for families moving into the district. Columbia Heights offers a relatively affordable entry point into the northern Twin Cities metro, with home values and rents that are lower than the statewide average. The compact geography means that getting to Anchor or other district schools does not require a long commute. The city has a network of parks and lakes, and the main commercial arteries are well-established. Still, the school itself is a niche option—not a comprehensive high school with broad extracurriculars or advanced placement tracks, but a place for students who need a different structure. A parent should seek out a conversation with the school to understand how it supports credit recovery, postsecondary transition, and individual learning plans, because the available data does not answer those questions.
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