Newly released 2026 Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) results show that the majority of Minnesota students still cannot do math at grade level.
The results show a slight decline in statewide students who met mathematics grade-level proficiency, dropping from 45.0 percent to 44.7 percent.
This year, an American Experiment analysis has found that 16 Minnesota schools had no students who could do math at grade level in 2026.
The zero percent proficiency review does not include area learning centers, alternative schools, or special education schools across the state. The MCA test is not administered to students receiving special education services who meet alternative test requirements.
The majority of schools (12 of 16) who did not have a single student at grade level were charter schools, but traditional public and magnet schools were also present. Most are in the Twin Cities metro area.
It’s harder for some schools to create a path towards grade-level proficiency than others. One school, Wellstone International High, caters primarily to immigrant students.
Both I and my colleague Catrin Wigfall have written several times regarding Minnesota schools where zero students are proficient in mathematics. Over the past 5 years, 13 of the 16 schools on this year’s list have had zero students proficient in mathematics for at least one year besides 2026.
It is the responsibility of charter school authorizers to oversee, direct, and (eventually) close charter schools that aren’t educating students. It’s the responsibility of MDE and local school districts to do the same for district schools. This long-running list suggests that several entities aren’t doing their job.
The average FY25 per-pupil spending at each of these schools with zero students proficient in math was $25,122.27, much higher than the state average of $17,333.86. The inability to educate students is structural, not financial.
What about the three largest Minnesota districts?
An additional review of the three largest school districts in Minnesota (Anoka-Hennepin, St. Paul, and Minneapolis) found that eight schools had grades in which zero students could do mathematics at grade level.
(Every Anoka-Hennepin school had at least one student who was grade-level proficient in math.)
In the Minneapolis school district, no 5th grader at Nellie Stone Johnson Elementary, 7th grader at MPS Online 6-12, 5th grader at Bethune Elementary, or 3rd grader at Webster Elementary could do math at grade level.
The Saint Paul school district wasn’t much better. No 5th or 7th grade student at East African Magnet School, 4th or 5th grade student at Benjamin E. Mays Afrocentric Magnet, 5th grade student at Cherokee Heights Elementary, or 6th grade student at Hazel Park Preparatory Academy could do math at grade level.
Five of the eight schools flagged this year for individual grades without anyone proficient in math have similarly seen the same grades be without any proficient students at least once over the past five years.
Students deserve better. When years go by with no students at grade level in these schools, it’s time for the adults in the room to start asking why.