Aurora Charter School

Schools in Aurora Charter School are two Minneapolis campuses serving about 419 students in grades PK through 8: Aurora Charter School (elementary, PK–4, 239 students) and Aurora Middle School (middle, grades 5–8, 180 students). Both sit in the bottom tier of Minnesota's rankings — the district is 448th of 458, in the 2nd percentile, the elementary school is in the 1st percentile, and the middle school is in the 6th percentile, each with 0 stars. Neither school exceeds the state average in any subject.

Compared with each other, the two schools show opposite relative strengths. Aurora Charter School does relatively better in math, beating the district average in both reported years: 12.4% vs. 7.6% in 2025–2026 and 19.57% vs. 8.89% in 2024–2025, with 3rd grade math at 14.3%. Aurora Middle School does relatively better in reading, also above the district in both years: 14.5% vs. 12.5% and 20.67% vs. 16.24%. Their weak spots mirror each other — elementary reading fell below the district average in both years (8.8% vs. 12.5%), and middle-school math did too (5.2% vs. 7.6%), with 6th grade math at 2.5%, the lowest grade-level result reported.

Inside the middle school, upper grades read better than lower grades: 8th grade reading is 19% and 7th grade 18.8%, compared with 11.6% in 5th grade and 7.5% in 6th. At the elementary school, 3rd grade outperformed 4th grade in both subjects. Both schools serve high free/reduced lunch populations (73.64% elementary, 83.33% middle) and have nearly identical student-teacher ratios of about 15:1. Gaps to the state remain large: elementary reading 8.8% vs. 48.6%, middle math 5.2% vs. 44.9%, middle reading 14.5% vs. 48.6%, and middle science 5.9% vs. 25.5%.