Nearly two-thirds of Minnesota 11th graders are below grade level in math, and the class of 2025 posted the worst academic performance on record for a graduating cohort even as it earned the highest graduation rate ever.
As measured by the state’s Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment, the proficiency results reflect the percentage of juniors meeting the state’s academic math standards, which include content students must “satisfactorily complete” by the time they graduate.
Gone, though, is the statewide Graduation Required Assessment for Diploma (GRAD) requirement, which Minnesota lawmakers scrapped in 2013. This decision eliminated a direct link between test performance and a diploma.
Outside of MCA performance, the ACT also reveals similar academic challenges, with the class of 2025 posting the lowest average score since 1996, and at a similar participation rate.
While these two assessments provide a snapshot of a student’s academic journey, there is a “strong positive relationship” between MCA scores and the ACT, according to the Minnesota Department of Education. The department also notes in this report that there is a real, if modest, link between MCA scores and grades earned in related first-year college courses.
High school graduation is an important milestone, but sending students into the world with a piece of paper and deficient skills can negatively impact them as well as their future employers and the broader community. Beyond educational effects, research shows that eliminating high school graduation requirements measurably affects arrest and incarceration rates.
Restoring meaningful accountability can’t be optional anymore. Policymakers should revisit changes they have made in the past, such as eliminating the high school exit exam, and consider reinstating a version of that metric. They should also look at grade inflation and push for external checks on grades to help curb the practice and help a transcript mean what it claims to mean. Until then, Minnesota will keep breaking its own record for graduation rates and calling it progress, even as its high school students aren’t meeting grade-level expectations.
11th Grade Math Proficiency, Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment, All Students
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Below is a sample of the questions 11th graders are asked, which test the everyday application of academic standards Minnesota itself has set for its students. The complexity of each question is noted as a I, II, or III, ranging from easier to harder. Students who choose not to participate, or opt out, are not included in proficiency results. Only valid test scores are counted in the calculation.
*NOTE: These questions are pulled from math MCAs administered in different years and so, for test security purposes, do not necessarily reflect how 11th graders who took the assessment in 2025 answered. They are intended to give an overview of some of the knowledge and skills defined in state math standards that students are assessed on. A calculator was allowed for these questions.
2022: Geometry and Measurement, Complexity I
A triangle has angle measures of 43 degrees, 52 degrees, and 85 degrees. Which term describes this triangle?
A. Isosceles
B. Obtuse
C. Right
D. Scalene
Sixty percent correctly answered the question. [Answer: D.]
2017: Data Analysis & Probability, Complexity I
Emily rolls a fair number cube with faces numbered 1 through 6. What is the theoretical probability that she does not roll a 3 or a 5 on her first roll? Enter your answer in the box.
Fifty-one percent correctly answered the question. [Answer: 2/3 or equivalent; 0.6, 0.7, 0.66, 0.666, 0.667, 0.6666, 0.6667]
2018: Algebra, Complexity II
Solve.
A. x = 1
B. x = 7
C. x = 2; x = 7
D. x = 1; x = 14
Fifty-two percent correctly answered the question. [Answer: B.]
2022: Algebra, Complexity II
The Nichols are planning to increase the size of their 8-foot-by-12-foot rectangular deck by adding x feet to its length and its width.
After the length and width are increased, the entire deck’s area will be 268.25 square feet. By how many feet should the Nichols increase the length and the width of their existing deck?
Thirty-two percent correctly answered the question. [Answer: 6.5 feet]
2017: Algebra, Complexity III
Ryan bought a used car for $5,000. Each year, the car’s value decreased by 10% of the previous year’s value. Which equation represents the value of Ryan’s car, V, in terms of the number of years, t, since Ryan bought the car?
A. V = 5,000 – 0.9t
B. V = 5,000 – 0.1t
C. V = 5,000(1.1)t
D. V = 5,000(0.9)t
Thirty percent correctly answered the question. [Answer: D.]