The top reported proficiency rate is 72% in English language arts. The lowest is 49% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Northrop Elementary
Northrop Elementary, a regular public school in Minneapolis serving kindergarten through fifth grade, sits within the Minneapolis Public School District. The school occupies a specific building in the city’s Longfellow neighborhood, on the south side near Minnehaha Falls and the Mississippi River. Minneapolis itself is a major urban center, a financial, corporate, and cultural hub with a dense, gridded street pattern, a strong downtown, and the University of Minnesota’s main campus embedded nearby.
The school’s student body is predominantly white, with a much smaller share of students identifying as two or more races, and smaller still shares of Hispanic, Black, Asian, and American Indian or Alaska Native students. A modest proportion of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school is not a charter or magnet school. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the provided records.
Academically, Northrop Elementary shows strong performance on state assessments. In reading, across the tested grades, a solid majority of students scored proficient, with a notably high share of third graders reaching that level and an even larger share of fifth graders doing so. In math, a strong majority of third and fourth graders were proficient, while the share of fifth graders who were proficient, though still a majority, was somewhat lower. In science, which is tested only in fifth grade, a smaller share of students—roughly half—reached proficiency. A parent may want to discuss the science curriculum and support with the school, especially given that this result sits apart from the otherwise strong language arts and math outcomes in the earlier grades.
When compared with other schools across Hennepin County, Northrop Elementary’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the top quartile. This is a strong position, indicating that, on aggregate, academic performance here is notably higher than at most schools in the district and county. The school’s enrollment is of a size typical for an elementary school in an urban setting. No state testing data from prior years was available for comparison, so the performance picture is limited to a single year.
The school’s parent district is Minneapolis Public Schools, which has been navigating significant changes. The district adopted a Comprehensive District Design that restructured school pathways, attendance boundaries, and magnet placements. It also closed three schools in 2023 in response to declining enrollment and budget pressures. A technology levy was renewed by voters in 2022, but a proposed operating levy increase was rejected in 2020. The district faced a substantial budget deficit for the 2024-25 school year, driven by enrollment declines and the expiration of federal COVID-19 relief funds, leading to staff reductions and program cuts. These district-level financial pressures may affect resources and programming at Northrop over time.
The surrounding neighborhood offers a mix of housing types. In the ZIP code serving the school, home values and rents are moderately priced for the metro area, with typical values and rents that have seen modest year-over-year increases. A typical home is more expensive than renting, and a standard mortgage would cost more than typical rent, suggesting a market where homeownership carries a higher monthly expense than renting, which is common in many urban areas.
For a family considering Northrop Elementary, the picture is one of a neighborhood school with consistently strong academic results, especially in reading and math in the primary grades, set within a large urban district under financial pressure. The school’s high proficiency outcomes relative to other Hennepin County schools are a clear strength. The student population is not highly diverse, and the share of students from lower-income households is relatively modest. The school’s location in a residential area of Minneapolis offers access to the city’s parks, lakes, and cultural institutions, while the district’s ongoing budget challenges are a factor that could affect class sizes and program stability in the years ahead.
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