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How has HGA Elementary changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
525
Elementary
DISTRICT 388 · STATE 344
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·HIGHER GROUND ACADEMY·NCES 270014002719
HGA Elementary
1381 MARSHALL AVE, SAINT PAUL, MN 55104 · (651) 645-1000 · Ramsey County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY11-CITYCHARTERTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL525 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
17.7:1
30 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 34.7:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
94%
495 students
DISTRICT 93% · STATE 48%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 95 | 18% |
| Grade 1 | 86 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 93 | 18% |
| Grade 3 | 79 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 87 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 85 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (95) is 12% larger than its 5th grade class (85).
Student demographics
12%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 12% · STATE 60% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Based on grade levels within Higher Ground Academy. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
MCA 2024-25 . % Meets or Exceeds StandardsEnglish Language Arts
41.0%
MN avg 49.7%
Math
48.3%
MN avg 45.3%
What this means: On the MCA, Minnesota's statewide test, about 41 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 48 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Minnesota schools, those numbers are about 50 and 45.
Source: MCA. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of MN schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
38.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
14.4%
based on MN schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+24.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 39% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 14% typical for Minnesota schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 24 points, placing it in Minnesota's top 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like HGA Elementary
HGA Elementary's state test result (38.6% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| HGA Elementary this school | 525 | 94.3% | 38.6% |
| Best Academy MINNEAPOLIS | 508 | 92.5% | 20.1% |
| SET Academy Elementary MINNEAPOLIS | 463 | 96.5% | 42.2% |
| Universal Academy Elementary MINNEAPOLIS | 411 | 92.7% | 43.0% |
| Twin Cities International Schools MINNEAPOLIS | 595 | 99.3% | 25.5% |
| New Century School SAINT PAUL | 367 | 92.6% | 20.3% |
Matched among Minnesota elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where HGA Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Minnesota | In Ramsey County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 38.6% | #557 of 844 | #30 of 93 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 48.3% | #464 of 844 | #24 of 93 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 41.0% | #569 of 844 | #34 of 93 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 525 | #255 of 1,130 | #22 of 119 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.7:1 | #724 of 769 | #73 of 83 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 12.2% | #748 of 796 | #79 of 86 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 94.3% | #18 of 942 | #6 of 101 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -13.4% | #254 of 499 | #28 of 55 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
525
-83 (-14%) vs 2020
+28% since 2000-01, when it was 411
Student : Teacher
17.7:1
was 20.3:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 525 | 29.7 | 17.7:1 | 94% (495) |
| 2023-24 | 527 | 29 | 18.2:1 | 98% (518) |
| 2022-23 | 573 | 30.4 | 18.8:1 | 99% (566) |
| 2020-21 | 608 | 30 | 20.3:1 | 96% (583) |
| 2017-18 | 606 | 29.6 | 20.5:1 | 96% (580) |
| 2015-16 | 631 | 29 | 21.8:1 | 97% (610) |
| 2010-11 | 662 | 35 | 18.9:1 | 97% (640) |
| 2000-01 | 411 | N/A | N/A | 88% (360) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for HGA Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 13% (606 to 525); teachers unchanged (29.6 to 29.7).
About HGA Elementary
HGA Elementary is a large elementary school based in SAINT PAUL, Minnesota. It offers kindergarten through 5 and has 525 students enrolled. By comparison, elementary schools in Minnesota enroll about 344 students on average.
Higher Ground Academy includes 3 schools. Together they enroll 1,163 students.
Black students are 94% of those enrolled at HGA Elementary. Other reported shares: 6% White. That compares with about 12% Black among all Ramsey County residents. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 12%.
The school's 29.7 full-time-equivalent teachers translate to a student-to-teacher ratio of 17.7:1. Statewide, elementary schools in Minnesota average 13.7:1. Income data for the school show 94% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. By comparison, the figure for public schools in Ramsey County is 57%.
HGA Elementary beats its predicted average proficiency rate across its state test results by 24.2 points (38.6% versus 14.4%), a top-10% result in Minnesota on BeatsExpectations.
Five-year Census Bureau estimates for Ramsey County show that median household income comes to about $81,568, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 46% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 8%. Ramsey County counts 302 public schools with about 94,437 students.
HGA Junior High is less than a tenth of a mile away, making it the nearest public school. HGA Elementary is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. Nearby schools average 38.8% on proficiency, and HGA Elementary is below that at 38.6%.
HGA Elementary has an NCES locale of City: Large. As a charter school, HGA Elementary is publicly funded and operates under a charter.
By 2024-25, enrollment had dropped to 525, from 608 in 2020-21. The number of students per teacher dropped from 20.3 to 17.7 over 4 years.
The discussion board for HGA Elementary is open to topics like pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Ramsey County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
542,945
Census ACS
Median income
$81,568
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
46%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
302
94,437 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Higher Ground Academy
- HGA SecondaryHigh · 442 students
- HGA Junior HighMiddle · 196 students
Other schools in SAINT PAUL
- Minnesota Connections Academy 7-12High · 3,536 students
- Central Senior HighHigh · 1,682 students
- Harding Senior HighHigh · 1,591 students
- Highland Park Senior HighHigh · 1,392 students
- Johnson Senior HighHigh · 1,076 students
- Capitol Hill Magnet/RondoElementary · 1,066 students
Nearby schools
- HGA Junior High0.0 mi · 196
- Central Senior High0.5 mi · 1,682
- Gordon Parks High School0.6 mi · 217
- HIGH SCHOOL FOR RECORDING ARTS0.6 mi · 181
- Early Ed HUB0.6 mi · 38
- Laura Jeffrey Academy Charter0.7 mi · 117
Frequently asked questions
About HGA ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at HGA Elementary?
HGA Elementary enrolls approximately 525 students in grades KG-05.
What grades does HGA Elementary serve?
HGA Elementary serves grades KG-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at HGA Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at HGA Elementary is approximately 17.7:1 (30 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at HGA Elementary?
At HGA Elementary, the student body is approximately 6% White, 94% Black, 1% Asian.
Who oversees HGA Elementary?
HGA Elementary is overseen by Higher Ground Academy in Ramsey County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.