Beacon Academy

Beacon Academy is the single school in the Beacon Academy district, an elementary school serving grades K–8 in Crystal, Minnesota, with 524 students and a student-teacher ratio of 17.2 in 2024–2025. Because it is the only school in the area, it is both the standout and the entire comparison set, so the most useful comparisons are against state averages and against its own past performance.

Results are mixed. The brightest spot is 4th grade reading at 50% proficient versus 48.8% statewide — the only result above the state average. All-grade science is 17.9% versus 25.5% state, a smaller gap than in other subjects, and the school's rank improved from 688 of 881, 22nd percentile, 1 star in 2023–2024 to 584 of 869, 33rd percentile, 2 stars in 2025–2026. The clearest weaknesses are math overall at 24.2% versus 44.9% state (a 20.7-point gap), 7th grade math at 9.6% versus 40.3% (30.7 points), and 3rd grade reading at 20% versus 46.8% (26.8 points). 8th grade science is 13.9% versus 16.7% state. Reading also fell from 46.11% in 2024–2025 to 39.1% in 2025–2026, while math and science rose slightly; note that the reading exam label differs between years, so that comparison should be treated with mild caution.

For parents, the takeaway is that performance varies sharply by grade rather than being uniformly low: 4th grade reading and 5th grade science (23.5% vs. 25.9%) are close to state levels, while early reading and middle-grade math lag well behind. Nearly half the student body — 48.47% in 2024–2025 — qualifies for free or reduced lunch, useful context though it does not shrink the academic gaps. The district and school test scores are identical because the district contains one school; the district's 1-star rating and the school's 2-star rank come from different scales and are not contradictory.