Tier Two

Tier Two is an alternative K–12 school in Plymouth, Minnesota, serving 274 students at 1820 Xenium Ln N as part of Intermediate School District 287, making it the largest of the nearby alternative programs compared here; it shares its address with Tier One and Tier Three. It enrolls a high-need population: 64.96% of students were eligible for free or reduced lunch in 2024–2025, and the student-teacher ratio was 4.3, which points to small instructional groups and intensive staffing typical of alternative settings.

Test results in 2025–2026 show math as a relative bright spot and reading as the biggest concern. Tier Two's math proficiency of 12.7% was 1.7 points above the district's 11.0% but 32.2 points below the state's 44.9%. Reading was 12.1%, below the district's 19.8% and the state's 48.6%, and far below River Bend Educational Center at 32.7% and Tier Three at 31.0%. Science was 15.8%, below both the district's 18.2% and the state's 25.5%. Many grade-level results are suppressed by the state because of small group sizes, so those should be treated as unknown rather than as zero; the reported 3rd grade reading figure of 0% reflects a very small cohort.

Graduation and dropout trends are mixed. The 2024–2025 graduation rate was 33.3%, less than half the state's 84.9% and below the district's 38.0%, though higher than Tier Three's 14.2%. Dropout improved sharply, from 16.1% in 2021–2022 and 13.3% in 2022–2023 to 3.2% in 2023–2024 and 4.7% in 2024–2025 — now below the district's 7.9% but slightly above the state's 4.2%. Notably, River Bend Educational Center has a much higher free/reduced lunch rate (95.38%) yet outperformed Tier Two in all three subjects, suggesting factors beyond poverty, such as program model, student mobility, or instructional focus, may be at work.