Best Middle Schools in Minnesota

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Find the best Minnesota middle schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish Minnesota test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the MCA-III test scores by the Minnesota Department of Education. The most recent update was on Thursday, August 29, 2024.

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School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 545)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)
270807003181	501	Cass Lake-Bena Middle School	Public	5-8	15314 State 371 NW	Cass Lake	56633	Cass County	Cass Lake-Bena Public Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(218) 335-2203	303	32	9.3	84.5%	12 (4.0%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	289 (95.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$22,279							11.1	8.3	498	3
271104001562	502	Merritt Creek Academy	Public, Alternative	K-12	4000 W 9th St	Duluth	55807	St. Louis County	Duluth Public School District	No	No	No	No	(218) 625-2689	86	11	7.7	83.7%	70 (81.4%)	1 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (4.7%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (12.8%)	$26,567							10.8			(n/a)
270046705433	503	Escuela Exitos	Public, Charter	K-8	4741 Zealand Ave N	New Hope	55428	Hennepin County	Escuela Exitos Charter School	Yes	No	No	Yes	(612) 421-0152	214	13	16	86.4%	2 (0.9%)	13 (6.1%)	198 (92.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								10.8			(n/a)
270028805141	504	Hiawatha College Prep - Northrop	Public, Charter	5-8	4640 17th Ave S	Minneapolis	55407	Hennepin County	Hiawatha Academies	Yes	No	No	Yes	(612) 559-6546	409	31	13	93.6%	3 (0.7%)	34 (8.3%)	361 (88.3%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.7%)	$25,560							10.4	9.5	490	14
270018503138	505	Academia Cesar Chavez Charter School	Public, Charter	PK, KG-8	1801 Lacrosse Ave	Saint Paul	55119	Ramsey County	Academia Cesar Chavez Charter School	Yes	No	No	Yes	(651) 778-2940	511	44	11.5	89.6%	2 (0.4%)	2 (0.4%)	500 (97.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.4%)	$14,606							10.2	3.9	524	19
270025204405	506	Stride Academy K-8 Charter School	Public, Charter	K-8	3241 Oakham Ln	Saint Cloud	56301	Stearns County	STRIDE Academy	Yes	No	No	Yes	(320) 230-5340	588	49	11.9	83.5%	52 (8.8%)	493 (83.8%)	23 (3.9%)	3 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	15 (2.6%)	$12,178							9.5	10.3	483	23
273384002303	507	American Indian Magnet School	Public, Magnet	PK, KG-8	1075 3rd St E	Saint Paul	55106	Ramsey County	Saint Paul Public Schools	No	Yes	No	Yes	(651) 778-3100	517	43	11.9	88.4%	22 (4.3%)	60 (11.6%)	107 (20.7%)	157 (30.4%)	74 (14.3%)	0 (0.0%)	97 (18.8%)	$17,042							9.4	7.1	504	3
270624004306	508	Insight School Of Minnesota	Public, Virtual	6-12	5910 Shingle Creek Pkwy	Brooklyn Center	55430	Hennepin County	Brooklyn Center Community Schools	No	No	Yes	No	(763) 560-1905	400	18	21.8	67.5%	246 (61.5%)	53 (13.3%)	42 (10.5%)	8 (2.0%)	14 (3.5%)	0 (0.0%)	37 (9.3%)	$12,458							9.1			(n/a)
271242003427	509	Fridley Middle Area Learning Center	Public	5-8	6100 W Moore Lake Dr	Fridley	55432	Anoka County	Fridley Public School District	No	No	No	No	(763) 502-5101	36	1	43.3	72.2%	9 (25.0%)	21 (58.3%)	1 (2.8%)	1 (2.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (11.1%)	$13,030							8.6			(n/a)
270345003192	510	New Dominion Academy	Public, Alternative	K-12	1111 28th St NE	Austin	55912	Mower County	Austin Public School District	No	No	No	No	(507) 434-8667	1	0			1 (100.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								8.6			(n/a)

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for Minnesota

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for MN student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Homeless Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on MCA-III Math, MCA-III Reading, MCA-III Science test scores released by the Minnesota Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on August 29, 2024, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the Minnesota Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the Minnesota Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Minnesota Department of Education.