Osseo Middle School, Osseo MN - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Osseo Middle School

Osseo Middle School serves grades six through eight in the Osseo Area School District (District 279), a regular public school located within the small city of Osseo, a northwest Minneapolis suburb that sits between Maple Grove and Brooklyn Park. The city’s downtown, along Central Avenue, is compact and walkable, anchored by City Hall, the public library, and Boerboom Veterans Park with its community-built bandshell. The community holds annual events like the Osseo Lions Roar street fair and the Osseo Marching Band Festival. The city’s population has been declining, and it covers less than a full square mile with no room for geographic expansion, bounded on all sides by neighboring cities. This small, established setting means the school draws from a defined and relatively stable residential area.

The school has a moderate enrollment, and its student body is racially and socioeconomically diverse. Just under half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The largest demographic group is white students, making up about half of the enrollment, followed by Black students at roughly a fifth, multiracial students, Asian students, and a smaller share of Hispanic students. This diversity gives the school a mix of backgrounds that families may weigh according to their priorities.

On state assessments, Osseo Middle School’s proficiency rates in both math and English language arts sit above the midpoint of the school’s own performance across tested grades. In reading, roughly half of students in each grade met proficiency standards, with a slight edge for sixth graders over seventh and eighth graders. Math proficiency follows a similar pattern, hovering near that same half threshold across grades. The school’s overall academic standing, measured as a combined index across tested subjects and grades, places in the top quartile among schools in districts across Hennepin County. This is a stronger relative position, though the county contains a wide range of scores.

Science testing, administered only in eighth grade, shows a much lower proficiency rate. A small share of eighth graders reached the proficient or above level on the science assessment. The state changed the test name and cut scores for science that year, making direct comparisons with prior years unreliable, but the result itself is a soft spot a parent may want to look into further with the school.

The district recently added a full-time online school, 279Online, that now serves K-12 students across Minnesota, offering a flexible option that extends beyond the district’s boundaries. It also opened a new elementary school in the Maple Grove area to handle growth in that part of the district, which may affect attendance boundaries over time.

The school is a middle school only, so there is no graduation rate to report. State data on chronic absenteeism and discipline were not available for this school, so those aspects of the student experience cannot be characterized here. A family interested in school climate and attendance patterns would need to ask the school directly. Data on special education and English learner populations were also missing from the available records.

Osseo Middle School offers a middle-school academic experience in a small, established suburb with a defined sense of community. The school’s test results are solid relative to other schools in the county, though the gap between its reading and math scores and its science scores is wide enough to raise a question. The school serves a diverse student body, and its city has an older, slower-growing residential feel with a downtown core that hosts community events. Families who value a midsized middle school in a recognizable small-town setting within the broader Twin Cities metro area will find this a straightforward fit.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 649%

School 49% · District 38% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

Grade 747%

School 47% · District 38% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 30 pts above county median

Grade 847%

School 47% · District 37% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 654%

School 54% · District 51% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 751%

School 51% · District 44% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 853%

School 53% · District 46% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 814%

School 14% · District 14%

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

This schoolOSSEO 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 6Lower-income31%Higher-income66%36 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income34%Higher-income61%27 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income32%Higher-income66%33 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income20%Higher-income65%45 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income21%Higher-income63%42 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income22%Higher-income63%41 pp gap