Kennedy Community School, Saint Joseph MN

Original Research by School Decision on Kennedy Community School

Kennedy Community School serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade as a regular public school within the St. Cloud Area School District. Located in Saint Joseph, it is a school that families choose for the full preK through middle school span, after which students move on to a district high school. The school is not a charter school, and its Title I status was not available in the data we examined.

The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial share of Black students and a smaller share of Hispanic students, alongside small numbers of students who are Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, or identify with two or more races. More than half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure of household economic need that is a notable factor in the school’s profile. Exact counts for students with disabilities and English learners were not present in the data.

On state assessments, Kennedy Community School shows a pattern of mixed results across subjects and grade levels. In reading, some grades reach proficiency rates near or above the midpoint of the range, while others fall noticeably lower. The variation from grade to grade is wide enough that a parent may want to ask the school how it supports consistency in literacy instruction across the upper elementary and middle grades. In math, proficiency rates are lower in several grades, particularly at the middle school level, where results trail the elementary grades. Science results for fifth grade are in a moderate range, while eighth-grade science proficiency is markedly low. The overall proficiency index, which averages performance across tested subjects and grades, places the school below the midpoint among the districts of Stearns County.

Because Kennedy Community School does not serve high school grades, it has no graduation rate to report, and the data we received did not include chronic absenteeism or discipline figures. Those gaps may reflect the difficulty of capturing those metrics for a preK through eighth grade building, but a parent seeking a fuller picture of school climate would need to ask the administration directly.

The school sits within the larger St. Cloud Area School District, which covers a multi-community region centered on Saint Joseph. The district brief we searched for recent policy changes, facility updates, or boundary adjustments that could affect families. No confirmed changes of the kind that would reshape a family's decision were found in publicly available sources, so we have left that topic unaddressed rather than guess.

Saint Joseph is a small city in Stearns County, part of the St. Cloud metro area and home to the College of Saint Benedict, a Catholic women’s liberal arts college. The town presents itself as retaining a small-town character while benefiting from metro-area amenities. Its historic downtown along Minnesota Street is compact, with businesses and restaurants, and the Lake Wobegon Trail, a paved recreational path, runs through the city linking neighborhoods. The local economy is anchored by educational services, primarily the college, followed by manufacturing and health care. The city describes itself as part of one of Minnesota’s fastest-growing areas, with steady population growth and an expanding economy. Kennedy Community School itself was built in response to that growth, about a mile outside of the downtown core, meaning the K-8 campus is separated from the college-anchored town center. Housing values in the area are above the national benchmark, which affects affordability for incoming families. Rents are also above the national typical level.

For a family evaluating Kennedy Community School, the central takeaway is that this is a mid-sized preK-through-eighth-grade school with economic diversity and a varied academic picture. Reading results are uneven, and math and science performance in the later grades is an area where a prospective parent would want to understand what interventions are in place. The school serves a community that is growing and that has a visible institutional anchor in the college, but the K-8 campus sits apart from that downtown life. The data does not give a clear read on school climate, discipline, or special education support, so a visit and a conversation with the principal would be important steps before deciding.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 359%

School 59% · District 35% · ▲ 23 pts above district

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

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 33%

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

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 22% · ▲ 21 pts above district

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

Grade 623%

School 23% · District 21% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 742%

School 42% · District 21% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 822%

School 22% · District 20% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 347%

School 47% · District 32% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 424%

School 24% · District 29% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 38% · ▲ 20 pts above district

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

Grade 646%

School 46% · District 38% · ▲ 8 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 750%

School 50% · District 35% · ▲ 15 pts above district

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

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 32% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Science

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 18% · ▲ 19 pts above district

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

Grade 813%

School 13% · District 10% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

This schoolST. CLOUD 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-income30%Higher-income61%32 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income16%Higher-income35%18 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income45%Higher-income77%32 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income37%Higher-income56%19 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income39%Higher-income58%19 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income29%Higher-income57%28 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income44%Higher-income71%27 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income24%Higher-income45%21 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income60%31 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income8%Higher-income40%32 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income21%Higher-income58%37 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income9%Higher-income43%34 pp gap