The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Saints Online Elementary
Saints Online Elementary is a virtual school within the St. Francis Area Schools district, serving kindergarten through fifth grade. It is a regular public school, not a charter school. The school is housed within a district that, like many in the northern Twin Cities exurbs, is navigating growth pressure and recent fiscal challenges. Voters in late 2024 defeated an operating levy that would have funded class sizes, staffing, and academic programs, and the district has since made budget cuts across the board.
The school itself is an online program, part of the district’s Saints Online offering. Its enrollment is very small, and its student body is composed of a mix of racial backgrounds, with the largest share being white. A parent considering this school is making a choice about the mode of instruction first and the specific school second: this is a full-time remote learning option taught by district teachers using a district-aligned curriculum. The peer experience is a virtual one, which may appeal to families looking for continuity with the district while needing or preferring a home-based education.
The academic performance data for Saints Online Elementary is extremely thin. State testing results for math and reading show a zero percent proficiency rate among the small group of students tested in grade five. Science data for that grade was suppressed. This pattern is not typical for a regular public elementary school, but it is also not interpretable in a straightforward way; the student count is simply too small for the numbers to carry the meaning they would in a larger school. A parent should understand that this single-year snapshot, based on a handful of test-takers, cannot represent the academic program’s quality. What it does show is that the school’s outcomes, as measured by the state’s standardized assessment, are very low relative to other elementary schools in Anoka County.
The school also sits in a particular comparative position. Among the county’s districts, its overall proficiency index falls in the bottom quartile. That ranking is the same story: a very low point on the scale, but it comes from a very small data set. The school does not report a chronic absenteeism rate or a graduation rate, the latter because it does not serve high school grades.
The community context matters here. Saint Francis is a community that blends rural residential and commercial uses. It functions as a regional hub for northern Anoka County while retaining a small-town character. The city is car-dependent, spread out over many square miles, with commercial activity concentrated along a main highway. The housing market in the area shows a typical home value that is roughly in line with the state median, and buying a home is somewhat more expensive each month than renting, given current mortgage rates. The area is part of the metropolitan northern edge and has seen family-oriented growth, though the district itself has faced enrollment and revenue pressures.
For a family, Saints Online Elementary is a narrow offering. It solves a specific problem, providing a virtual learning pathway within the local public school system. It is not a school a family chooses for its academic track record, because there is no meaningful track record to assess. It is a school a family chooses for the format: a full-time online structure, district-managed, serving a very small and specific population. The district’s broader financial situation suggests that resources for this program could be affected by ongoing budget reductions, and a parent would want to understand how the online program is staffed and supported in that context. The state test results are a red flag on the surface, but they are more a reflection of the program’s tiny scale than a reliable signal about what any individual child would experience. This is a place that fits a family who knows they want online elementary, who wants it from their local district, and who is comfortable looking past a data set too sparse to offer real guidance.
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