The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Mps Metro Ha
MPS Metro HA is a very small alternative school within the Minneapolis Public School District, serving students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The school calls itself a "HA" school, which stands for homebound or homebound alternative, meaning it is designed for students who require an educational setting outside of a traditional school building. For a family considering this school, the first and most important thing to understand is that this is not a comprehensive neighborhood school. This is a specialized placement for a particular student need.
The school is tiny. The total enrollment is small, and it serves students from every grade level from kindergarten through twelfth, with just a handful of students in each grade. That alone tells you that the student experience here is fundamentally different from what you would find in a school of even modest size. The student body is diverse. White students make up a substantial share, with Black students representing a meaningful portion, and smaller groups of Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, and multiracial students also enrolled. A small share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school is located in the city of Minneapolis, on 5th Street NE, in a neighborhood near the Mississippi riverfront.
The academic performance picture is unusual and must be read with the school's mission in mind. Most state testing data is either reported as zero or suppressed. The math and reading proficiency rates for all students in the tested grade are reported at zero. Science testing data for the one tested grade is suppressed because so few students were tested. When fewer than ten students take a test, the state suppresses the result to protect student privacy. A parent comparing this school to a traditional school in Hennepin County would see that the overall proficiency index puts MPS Metro HA in the bottom quartile of the county's districts. But this comparison is likely misleading. The school's very small numbers, its alternative nature, and the likelihood that many enrolled students are not present in a school building during testing windows mean that what the state test measures is not the same thing as what the school does. A parent should ask the district or the school directly what alternative curriculum or assessment the students actually follow, and what the school's academic expectations are. The standard test results simply do not tell you much about this school's academic program.
The school sits inside the larger Minneapolis Public School District, which has been under substantial budget pressure in recent years. The district has closed several schools, faced a significant budget deficit, and restructured its school pathways and attendance boundaries through a Comprehensive District Design. Voters rejected a proposed operating levy increase in 2020 but renewed a technology capital levy in 2022. These district-level dynamics are relevant to any family in Minneapolis schools but are especially so for a family whose student might be placed at Metro HA, because the school's own resources and staffing depend on the district's ability to fund it.
Minneapolis itself is a dense, walkable urban center with a strong downtown core, a major university campus, extensive parks, and professional sports venues. Housing values and rents in the area are in the middle range for the country, with rents rising recently. The area has seen some population decline, but remains Minnesota's most populous city.
For a parent or guardian looking at MPS Metro HA, the essential question is whether the student's needs align with a homebound or alternative placement. This is not a school where you choose a math or reading track or compare test scores to those of traditional schools. It is a specialized setting for students who, for medical, behavioral, or other reasons, cannot attend a regular school. The peer group will be small, the instruction is likely individualized, and the academic pathway depends on the student's particular circumstances. No graduation rate, chronic absenteeism rate, or staffing data was available. A parent should contact the Minneapolis Public School District's placement office directly to understand the specific referral process, the kind of instruction provided, and how a student transitions back to a traditional school or graduates from this setting. The data does not describe those details.
See more original research from School Decision →