The top reported proficiency rate is 14% in Math. The lowest is 4% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Mississippi Creative Arts Elem
Mississippi Creative Arts Elementary is a regular public school in Saint Paul Public Schools, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It operates within Minnesota’s capital city, a dense, diverse urban center shaped by the Mississippi River, state government, and a strong park system. The school sits on a neighborhood campus in Saint Paul, part of a district that has recently added new magnet options, including an E-STEM middle school in Woodbury and the East African Elementary Magnet, alongside renaming Hidden River Middle School.
The student body reflects the city’s broad diversity. The largest share of students is Asian, with substantial Black and Hispanic populations, a smaller group of students who identify as White, and a small number of American Indian students or those of two or more races. A very large share of students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a community with significant economic need. Data on the share of students with individualized education programs or who are English learners was not available in the dataset; a parent may want to ask the school directly about these support populations.
State testing results are available for math, reading, and science across grades three through five. Across the grade levels tested, the proficiency rates reported are low. In math, fewer than one in five third and fourth graders met the state standard, and fewer than one in ten fifth graders did. In reading, roughly one in six third and fifth graders scored proficient, while about one in ten fourth graders did. On the fifth-grade science assessment, only a very small proportion of students were proficient. Overall, the school’s proficiency index, which averages results across tested subjects and grade levels, places Mississippi Creative Arts Elementary in the bottom quarter of all schools in Ramsey County, a comparison set that includes more than forty districts and their schools. There is only a single year of trend data available, so it is not possible to see whether performance has been moving in any direction.
Because the school serves only through grade five, there is no high school graduation rate to report. The school environment and access data fields, including discipline rates, course access, staffing ratios, and attendance figures, were all absent from the data; a family may wish to visit the school and ask about class sizes, enrichment offerings, and school climate directly.
The program offerings field was also empty. The school’s name signals a focus on creative arts, and a parent would want to learn from the school’s website or a tour exactly how that emphasis operates within the academic day and whether it shapes the curriculum in subjects beyond the arts.
Housing in the Saint Paul zip code area served by the school sits at a level well below the state median home value and slightly below the national median, consistent with an urban setting where affordability varies widely by neighborhood. The typical rent in the area is moderate relative to the national rent-to-income benchmark, though the area’s median household income is near the national figure.
For a parent weighing this school, the picture is of a deeply diverse, high-needs elementary school whose core academic numbers are soft, especially in later elementary grades and in science. The school’s position in the bottom of the county comparisons is clear. A parent drawn to creative arts programming and a school community that looks like the city itself will want to investigate how the arts focus operates in practice and what academic support structures are in place to raise student performance. Families prioritizing high proficiency rates on state tests would find that this school’s numbers fall well below what most schools in the county and state show.
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