Seward Elementary, Minneapolis MN

Original Research by School Decision on Seward Elementary

Seward Elementary is a regular public school serving prekindergarten through fifth grade within the Minneapolis Public School District. It sits in a residential neighborhood of an established urban center. Minneapolis itself is a dense, major city with a gridded core, a network of lakes and parks, a large university campus downtown-adjacent, and a history as a corporate and cultural hub. The school is one of many elementary options in the district.

The student body is diverse. White students make up the largest group, followed closely by Black students, with smaller but notable shares of students who identify as two or more races, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian. A majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a population with significant economic need. The grade band runs from prekindergarten through fifth grade, and enrollment is moderate for that range.

Academically, the school's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it above the midpoint when compared with other schools relative to districts in Hennepin County. That broader measure suggests that on average, Seward's students perform better than many of their peers in the county. Within the school, however, the results vary noticeably by subject and grade level. In math, the share of students meeting state standards declines steeply from the early elementary years through the upper grades, with third grade showing the strongest results and fifth grade considerably lower. In reading, the pattern is less severe, but proficiency also tends to be stronger in third grade than in later grades. The reading scores in fourth and fifth grades are roughly similar to each other, while sixth grade reading is a bit higher. It is worth noting that the school serves only through fifth grade, yet state testing data includes a sixth grade reading and math cohort; a parent may want to ask the district or school about the reason for that anomaly. In fifth grade science, about one in five students met the state standard. These numbers give a mixed picture: some cohorts do well relative to the county, but the trend of declining proficiency in the upper elementary grades is a soft spot a family might investigate further.

The district context matters for this school. Minneapolis Public Schools have been under financial strain due to declining enrollment and the expiration of federal pandemic relief funds. The district has closed several schools, restructured attendance boundaries and magnet program placements through a Comprehensive District Design, and faced a significant budget deficit in recent years. Voters renewed a technology levy but rejected an operating levy increase. These conditions mean that school assignment pathways, program offerings, and even school stability have been in flux for families across the district. Seward's own program offerings are not detailed in available data, so a parent would need to consult the school directly for specifics on enrichment, special education, English learner supports, or extracurricular options.

Housing in the surrounding area reflects a typical Minneapolis market, with home values and rents near the middle range for the city. The neighborhood is well integrated into the city's transit and park systems, and the school's location offers access to the broader civic and cultural resources of the urban core.

For a family considering Seward Elementary, the key considerations are the school's mixed academic trajectory across grades, its diverse and majority-low-income student body, and the broader district's ongoing restructuring and budget pressures. The school's overall proficiency position above many county peers is a strength, but the drop-off in upper-grade math and the thinness of available program information are areas to explore with the school directly.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 341%

School 41% · District 45% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 43% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 513%

School 13% · District 32% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 623%

School 23% · District 33% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 40% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 437%

School 37% · District 39% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 46% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 645%

School 45% · District 42% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Science

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 26% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

This schoolMinneapolis Public School District, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income24%Higher-income76%52 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income18%Higher-income57%39 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income21%Higher-income55%33 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income24%Higher-income78%54 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income17%Higher-income62%45 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income8%Higher-income51%44 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income6%Higher-income19%13 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income14%Higher-income39%25 pp gap