Sixteen Minnesota schools recorded zero students performing at grade level in mathematics during 2026, according to newly released data from the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment analyzed by American Experiment. The report also found that statewide math proficiency dropped slightly, from 45.0 percent to 44.7 percent, meaning the majority of Minnesota students still can't do math at grade level. The analysis excluded area learning centers, alternative schools, and special education schools from the zero-proficiency count.
Of the 16 schools with no grade-level proficient students in math, 12 were charter schools, though traditional public and magnet schools also appeared on the list. Most are located in the Twin Cities metro area. Over the past five years, 13 of these 16 schools have recorded zero math-proficient students for at least one year besides 2026. Schools with zero proficiency spent an average of $25,122.27 per pupil in fiscal year 2025, significantly higher than the state average of $17,333.86. A separate examination of Minnesota's three largest districts—Anoka-Hennepin, St. Paul, and Minneapolis—identified eight schools where specific grades had zero students proficient in math. In Minneapolis, no fifth grader at Nellie Stone Johnson Elementary or Bethune Elementary could perform math at grade level, nor could any seventh grader at MPS Online 6-12 or third grader at Webster Elementary. In St. Paul, no fifth or seventh grader at East African Magnet School, fourth or fifth grader at Benjamin E. Mays Afrocentric Magnet, fifth grader at Cherokee Heights Elementary, or sixth grader at Hazel Park Preparatory Academy met proficiency standards.
The report states that charter school authorizers have the responsibility to oversee, direct, and eventually close charter schools that aren't educating students, while the Minnesota Department of Education and local districts should do the same for district schools. According to the authors, this long-running list of failing schools suggests that several entities aren't doing their job. The report concludes that "the inability to educate students is structural, not financial," pointing to the significantly higher per-pupil spending at zero-proficiency schools compared to the state average. Five of the eight schools flagged for individual grades without proficient students have seen the same grades lack any proficient students at least once over the past five years.
The report's findings point to systemic failures in school oversight rather than insufficient funding. With schools spending nearly $8,000 more per student than the state average yet producing zero proficient students year after year, the authors argue that money isn't the problem—accountability is. Charter authorizers and education officials are failing to intervene when schools demonstrate years of zero proficiency, leaving students in schools that can't bring them to grade level. The report emphasizes that when years pass with no students reaching proficiency, it's time for the adults in charge to start asking why. Students deserve better than institutions that repeatedly fail to educate them, the authors conclude.