Summary:
ZIP code 55404 contains eight schools — two elementary, one middle, and five high schools — serving 1,208 students, and it is a high-poverty area: of the seven schools reporting free or reduced lunch rates, all are above 73% and five are above 85%. Five schools belong to the Minneapolis Public School District, two to Aurora Charter School, and one to Lincoln International High School.
Only four schools report current 2025-2026 test scores, and all trail Minnesota averages. Whittier Elementary is by far the largest school at 491 students (about 40.6% of the area's enrollment) and posts the highest reported reading proficiency here at 15.2%, still far below the state's 48.6%; its math is 12% and 5th-grade math 5.7%. Aurora Middle School follows closely in reading at 14.5%, with 8th-grade reading at 19%, but math is 5.2% and science 5.9%. Aurora Charter School is stronger in math (12.4%) than reading (8.8%). Lincoln International High School is the standout in science at 19.2% — only 6.3 points below the state — and has the highest reported high school math at 14.8%, but the lowest reading at 5%.
High school outcomes are the area's biggest warning sign. Among the four high schools with current school-level graduation data, rates run from 15% to 51.7%, compared with the state's 84.9%, and dropout rates run from 4% to 30% against the state's 4.2%; Center School and Takoda Prep show the most severe figures. Test scores for Merc, Center School, Takoda Prep, and MERC Extended are suppressed, so their proficiency is unknown, not zero, and MERC Extended (7 students) also lacks current graduation and dropout data. Small enrollments — a median of just 37 students across the five high schools — make these numbers fragile and comparisons difficult.
Thank you for your feedback!