Scott Highlands Middle, Apple Valley MN

Original Research by School Decision on Scott Highlands Middle

Scott Highlands Middle is a regular public school serving grades six through eight in Apple Valley, part of the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan district. It is a sizable middle school whose student body reflects the broader diversity of the surrounding suburbs. White students make up the majority of the enrollment, and there are substantial shares of Asian, Black, Hispanic, and multiracial students. About a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school’s special education and English learner populations are not reported in the available data, so a family interested in those supports may want to ask the school directly.

State test results from the 2024-25 school year provide a snapshot of academic performance. In math, proficiency rates hover around half of students across the three grades, with seventh grade slightly ahead of sixth and eighth. In reading, the picture is stronger: sixth graders post the highest proficiency, while seventh and eighth grade reading rates settle around half. Science results for eighth graders are notably lower, with roughly one in five students scoring proficient. This is a soft spot, and a parent may want to look into the school’s science curriculum and support further. That said, when all tested subjects and grades are combined, Scott Highlands’ overall proficiency places it in the top quartile of middle schools within Dakota County, a measure that puts its performance above the county median.

Because Scott Highlands serves only grades six through eight, there is no graduation rate or college-readiness data to consider. The school has not reported chronic absenteeism or discipline information, so those dimensions of the student experience are not visible here.

Apple Valley itself is a mature suburban city that grew rapidly from farmland in the mid-twentieth century and has since stabilized. It is car-dependent, with major retail corridors along Cedar Avenue and County Road 42, and its civic institutions—including the Minnesota Zoo—are spread across the landscape rather than clustered in a downtown. The school district is the city’s largest employer. Housing in the area is typical of an established Twin Cities suburb, with home values and rents that reflect the region’s cost of living. The two largest recent district-level changes are the opening of a new elementary school in nearby Rosemount and the launch of a full-time virtual school option. A past operating referendum also provided a lasting local property-tax revenue stream that underpins the district’s budget.

For a family weighing options, Scott Highlands offers a middle school experience in a large, diverse setting where overall academic performance is above the county average, though science results are an area to explore further. The district’s financial stability and programmatic additions, including a virtual school, add context to the choices available within this community.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 644%

School 44% · District 49% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 751%

School 51% · District 50% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 848%

School 48% · District 51% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 664%

School 64% · District 62% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 752%

School 52% · District 52% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 51% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Science

Grade 820%

School 20% · District 22% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

This schoolROSEMOUNT-APPLE VALLEY-EAGAN, 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-income51%Higher-income70%19 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income36%Higher-income59%24 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income34%Higher-income57%23 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income25%Higher-income52%27 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income27%Higher-income61%34 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income25%Higher-income58%33 pp gap