The top reported proficiency rate is 69% in Math. The lowest is 38% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Mahtomedi Middle
Mahtomedi Middle School serves students in grades six through eight and sits within the Mahtomedi Public School District, a system that draws from Mahtomedi and several surrounding communities including Dellwood, Grant, Hugo, Pine Springs, and Willernie. The school is a regular public school and not a charter or magnet. Enrollment is moderate for a middle school, and the student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of students who are Black, Hispanic, Asian, or of two or more races. About one in seven students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that sits on the lower end compared with many schools in the region and reflects the generally higher-income character of the communities the district serves.
On state assessments administered in the 2024-25 school year, student performance in both math and reading was solid across all three grade levels. In sixth grade, roughly two-thirds of students met proficiency in math, and a similar share did so in reading. Seventh-grade results were comparable. Eighth-grade math proficiency was higher, while eighth-grade reading was closer to two-thirds. In science, which is tested in eighth grade only, the proficiency rate was lower than in math and reading. This pattern is common across many middle schools; families may want to ask the school about how science instruction is supported in the upper grades. Overall, the school’s combined proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it among the top quarter of schools when compared with other districts in Washington County, a strong showing that indicates consistently above-average academic performance.
The school has no graduation rate because it does not serve high school grades. Data on chronic absenteeism and on the share of students with disabilities or who are English learners was not available, so a reader cannot assess those dimensions from this profile. Class size and staffing ratios were also not reported.
The community context matters for understanding this school. Mahtomedi is a largely built-out residential suburb with a small-town feel, located between St. Paul and Stillwater on the northeast shore of White Bear Lake. The housing market is expensive; homes in the area are priced well above state and national medians, and rents are correspondingly high. For a family moving into the area, the cost of housing is a significant factor. The district has made several recent changes that directly affect the middle school experience. Voters approved a decade-long operating levy renewal in 2023 that maintains per-pupil funding for teachers, class sizes, and programs. The district has also expanded its one-to-one device program so that every student from third grade through high school has a dedicated laptop or Chromebook, which means Mahtomedi Middle students have consistent access to digital tools for coursework. In addition, the district adopted a new elementary literacy curriculum grounded in the science of reading in recent years, though that shift affects the elementary schools feeding into this middle school rather than the middle school curriculum itself.
For a family considering this school, the picture is of a middle school in an affluent suburban district where academic proficiency is consistently above the county average. The student population is not highly diverse, and economic disadvantage is less common here than in many peer districts. The school does not have the program or course-access data that would show whether it offers specialized pathways or electives; that information would need to come from the school directly. The absence of data about special education and English learner populations is also a gap families should ask about if those services are a priority. For those who can afford the area’s housing costs and are looking for a middle school with strong core academic results in a stable, well-funded district, Mahtomedi Middle School fits that description clearly.
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