The top reported proficiency rate is 67% in English language arts. The lowest is 40% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Howe Elementary
Howe Elementary serves a single purpose in the Minneapolis Public Schools system: it is an upper-elementary building for students in third, fourth, and fifth grades only. The school sits in a residential pocket of the city and enrolls a small student body for that grade band. Because the school does not serve any tested grades below third, there is no academic-performance data for the earlier years, and because it ends at fifth grade, there is no graduation rate to consider. The academic profile is defined entirely by the state assessments administered in those three grades.
On the Minnesota state tests administered in the 2024-25 school year, Howe’s students performed at levels that stand out relative to most other elementary schools in the district. In both reading and math across the three grades, the overall proficiency rate placed the school in the top quartile among all schools in Hennepin County for which this data was reported. In reading, proficiency across grades three through five was reported at a level slightly above two-thirds of students. In math, the story varied by grade: third and fourth graders posted solidly above-average results, while fifth-grade math proficiency dropped to roughly half of students meeting the standard. In fifth-grade science, proficiency was lower still, with about two-fifths of students scoring at the proficient level. The science assessment for that grade was administered under a new test and new cut scores for the first time in 2024-25, so this year’s result may not be directly comparable to prior years. A parent looking at this data could reasonably see a school with strong elementary reading instruction, solid early math results through fourth grade, and a visible dip in fifth-grade math and science that merits a conversation with the school about curriculum, transitions, or support in those areas.
The student body is predominantly white, with the remaining enrollment split among Hispanic, Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, multiracial, and Asian students in that order of share. Roughly three in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. No data on the share of students with disabilities or English learners was available in the source data, so these dimensions of the school’s student support and classroom composition are not possible to characterize here; a parent may want to ask the school directly.
Howe is a regular public school within the Minneapolis Public School District. The district has navigated a stretch of significant change and fiscal pressure in recent years. The school board voted in late 2022 to close three schools—Folwell, Ramsey, and Windom—effective at the end of that school year, a direct consequence of declining enrollment and budget constraints. A larger structural redesign called the Comprehensive District Design was approved in 2020 and phased in from 2021 onward, reshaping attendance boundaries, school pathways, and magnet program placements across the city. Voters renewed a technology capital levy in 2022 that provides ongoing funding for tech infrastructure, but they rejected a larger operating levy increase in 2020, which compounded the district’s budget difficulties. For the 2024-25 school year, the district faced a projected budget deficit driven by enrollment that has fallen from a much higher peak in prior decades to a level roughly half of that, along with the expiration of federal COVID relief funds. The district has signaled potential staff reductions, program cuts, and further school closures. These conditions mean that the stability of any given school’s programs, class sizes, or even its long-term future is not guaranteed and is worth monitoring closely for families considering a move into a particular attendance area.
Housing in the area reflects a market that is modestly above the national median home value and mid-range for the state, with rents that have been rising. The affordability context shows that typical renter households in this market spend roughly a quarter of income on rent, while buying the median-priced home at current mortgage rates would consume a substantially larger share of income, meaning that homeownership in this neighborhood is out of reach for many area households. The broader city context of Minneapolis is a dense urban center with a major university anchoring its east side, a downtown with professional sports and arts institutions, a nationally renowned park and lake system, and light rail and bus transit connecting the metro. Families living in this part of the city would have access to all of these amenities within a short drive or transit ride.
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