The top reported proficiency rate is 69% in Math. The lowest is 48% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Lake Nokomis Wenonah Elementary
Lake Nokomis Wenonah Elementary serves kindergarten and first grade in the south Minneapolis neighborhood of Wenonah, operating as one campus within the larger Lake Nokomis Community School. Because it covers only the earliest two grade levels, the school does not administer state tests for most of the accountability system, and it has no high school graduation rate to report. The single year of testing data that is available—from third graders who would have attended a different school for that grade—is too old and from a different campus configuration to meaningfully characterize current student performance.
The school is a regular public school, part of the Minneapolis Public School District. Enrollment is small for its grade band, with roughly equal numbers of students in kindergarten and first grade. The student body is predominantly white, with Black and Hispanic students each making up a substantial minority, and a smaller share of students identifying as two or more races. A modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on special education identification and English learner status was not available. The school is not a charter; its magnet and Title I status are not reported.
The neighborhood is a settled residential area in Minneapolis, a major urban center with a dense, gridded street pattern, abundant lakes and parks, and a strong downtown core with cultural institutions and professional sports venues. The city is the seat of Hennepin County and home to the University of Minnesota's main campus. Housing in the area carries a value above the national median, with rents slightly below the national average. The broader district context includes ongoing fiscal strain; Minneapolis Public Schools has seen declining enrollment over the past decade, closed three schools at the end of the 2022-23 school year, and faced a significant budget deficit for 2024-25 that has led to staff reductions and program considerations. The district also restructured school pathways, attendance boundaries, and magnet placements through its Comprehensive District Design, phased in beginning in 2021, which reshaped how students move from elementary through middle and high school.
Because the school serves only two grades, the metrics that typically anchor a school profile—state test proficiency, chronic absenteeism, graduation rate—are absent. The comparison data available, which looks at proficiency across all tested subjects, draws from a single prior year that does not reflect this school's current students and was calculated at a time when the assessment system itself was undergoing changes. A parent evaluating Lake Nokomis Wenonah should understand it as an entry point into a larger K-8 or K-5 pathway within the district's complex assignment system. The school's identity is tied to its role in the Lake Nokomis community school structure, and the broader district's financial pressures and boundary changes may affect what that pathway looks like in the years ahead. The available evidence does not support a judgment on academic quality; it simply describes a small, early-grades school in a large urban district undergoing significant transition.
See more original research from School Decision →