Seward Elementary

Seward Elementary is a PK–6 neighborhood school at 2309 28th Ave South in Minneapolis, part of the Minneapolis Public School District, serving 576 students — by a wide margin the largest elementary in its immediate comparison group, where most nearby schools enroll between 65 and 450 students.

Statewide, Seward Elementary ranks 652 of 869 schools (25th percentile, 1 star), and that placement has barely budged in four years, moving only between the 20th and 27th percentile. Reading is the school's clear strength: 42.9% proficiency in 2025–2026 is above the district (41.8%) and beats every nearby school, including Universal Academy Elementary at 41.3%. Math is well below benchmark at 26.5%, roughly 11 points under the district and 18 under the state, though still ahead of most neighbors. Science has fallen sharply, from 43.0% to 16.2% over three years, after starting above the state average. The reading-over-math gap of +16.4 points is far wider than the district's (+4.7) or the state's (+3.7).

Two patterns stand out for families. First, results slide as students move up: math proficiency drops from 37.2% in 3rd grade to 7.4% in 6th, while the district falls only from 46.4% to 33.4%. Second, results vary enormously by student group — English language learners sit at the 2nd percentile for a third straight year and low-income students at the 7th, while special education students improved from the 15th to the 35th percentile. Seward's poverty rate has fallen to 47.7%, roughly half that of surrounding schools, and its student-teacher ratio has tightened from 15.0 to 12.1 — yet math has stayed near 26% for four straight years. Reading is the asset to build on.