The top reported proficiency rate is 19% in Math. The lowest is 15% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on The Heights Community School
The Heights Community School is a neighborhood elementary school in Saint Paul, part of the Saint Paul Public Schools district. It serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, a regular public school without charter or magnet status. The school is located in the eastern part of the city, on Clear Avenue, and its student body is diverse. The largest share of students is Asian, at just under half, with Black and Hispanic students each making up roughly one-fifth of enrollment. The share of white students is small, and a portion identifies as two or more races. There is no data available for the share of students receiving special education services or the share who are English learners, two key indicators a parent may want to ask the school about directly.
A very substantial share of students at the school qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a student population of considerable economic need. The school’s enrollment is in the low hundreds, making it a smaller elementary school for its grade band, with class sizes that a family might find more manageable.
The school’s academic performance on Minnesota’s state assessments is a clear area to understand before enrolling. In reading, the share of students meeting proficiency standards was low across the tested grades. In mathematics, the pattern was similar, with proficiency rates also low. Results for third and fourth grade showed roughly a quarter or less of students proficient, and the fifth-grade math proficiency number was especially low. In science, only a small share of fifth graders reached the proficient level. When compared against other schools in Ramsey County, the school’s overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint of its peers. For a family considering this school, these results represent a significant soft spot. This is a place where a large majority of students are not yet meeting grade-level academic benchmarks, and a parent would want to have a clear conversation with the school about the specific supports, interventions, and academic strategies in place for students who need extra help, as well as what the school’s own improvement goals are.
Because the school only serves through fifth grade, it does not have a graduation rate, and data on chronic absenteeism was also not available. The school’s parent district, Saint Paul Public Schools, has recently made some notable adjustments to its offerings. The district opened a new environmental STEM magnet middle school in Woodbury and converted Jackson Elementary into the East African Elementary Magnet, a culturally focused option. It also renamed Ramsey Middle School to Hidden River Middle School. These changes do not directly affect The Heights but show a district that is actively reshaping its magnet and program options.
The Heights sits within the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota’s capital and second-largest city, which anchors the eastern half of the Twin Cities metro area. Saint Paul is a city shaped by state government employment, a mix of dense residential neighborhoods and downtown commercial and cultural institutions, and a notably diverse population. The area around the school, in the eastern part of the city, offers a mix of older housing stock and neighborhood amenities. The housing market in the school’s ZIP code shows home values slightly below the state average, and the typical rent is at a level that aligns with the metro area. A parent evaluating this school should weigh the clear academic challenges reflected in state testing against the school’s small size, its diverse student body, and the broader context of a large urban district that is actively creating new academic pathways for families.
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