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What's the most underrated thing about INDEPENDENCE ELEMENTARY that outsiders don't know?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Reading
47.6%
State avg 49.7%
District avg 50.2%
County avg 54.1%
District avg 50.2%
County avg 54.1%
Test scores
See how it ranks: all Minnesota schools by score · Sherburne County schools by score
MCA, SY 2024-25
All grades, all students. % Meets or Exceeds Standards.Mathematics
54.9%
State avg 45.3%
District avg 48.6%
County avg 51.4%
District avg 48.6%
County avg 51.4%
Science
30.8%
State avg 28.4%
District avg 26.0%
County avg 30.2%
District avg 26.0%
County avg 30.2%
What this means: On the MCA, Minnesota's statewide test, about 48 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level, about 55 of 100 do math at grade level, and about 31 of 100 are at grade level in science. Across all Minnesota schools, those numbers are about 50, 45, and 28.
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
46.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
46.1%
based on MN schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+0.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 46% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 46% typical for Minnesota schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Minnesota's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
By grade, SY 2024-25
School score vs state average per tested grade.| Grade | Reading | Mathematics | Science | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School | State | n tested | School | State | n tested | School | State | n tested | |
| Grade 3 | 45.3% | 46.3% | 276 | 55.8% | 58.1% | 276 | 45.3% | 46.3% | 276 |
| Grade 4 | 37.6% | 46.4% | 250 | 56.0% | 55.8% | 250 | 37.6% | 46.4% | 250 |
| Grade 5 | 61.5% | 57.2% | 226 | 52.4% | 43.1% | 225 | 30.8% | 26.6% | 221 |
1-year history
All grades, all students. INDEPENDENCE Minnesota avgReading
| Year | School | District | County | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SY 2024-25 | 47.6% | 50.2% | 54.1% | 49.7% |
Mathematics
| Year | School | District | County | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SY 2024-25 | 54.9% | 48.6% | 51.4% | 45.3% |
Science
| Year | School | District | County | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SY 2024-25 | 30.8% | 26.0% | 30.2% | 28.4% |
Recent discussions
From the INDEPENDENCE ELEMENTARY community.How to read these scores
What is MCA?
Minnesota public-school students take the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) each spring in Reading and Math (grades 3-8 + grade 10) and Science (grades 5, 8, and high school). MCA uses 4 performance levels: Does Not Meet, Partially Meets, Meets, and Exceeds Standards.
What does "% Meets or Exceeds Standards" mean?
It is the percentage of students at the school whose scores were "Meets the Standards" or "Exceeds the Standards" on the MCA — the top 2 of 4 performance levels (Does Not Meet, Partially Meets, Meets, Exceeds). Meets and above is Minnesota's grade-level benchmark. A higher number is better.
What does 47.6% mean for Reading at INDEPENDENCE ELEMENTARY?
It means about 47.6 percent of students tested at INDEPENDENCE ELEMENTARY performed at grade level or above on the MCA Reading test in 2024-25. The statewide average for Minnesota that year was 49.7%. The other students fell into the lower performance levels.
How is the state average calculated?
It is a weighted average, not a simple average of each school's number. We multiply each public school's score by how many of its students tested, add those together for all schools in Minnesota, and divide by the total students tested that year. This way a big school with 1,500 students counts more than a small school with 50 students, which is the right way to ask "how did the typical student do this year?". District and county averages on this page use the same method, just scoped to that district or county.
Where does this data come from?
Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) + MTAS + Alternate MCA combined ("All Standards-Based"). School-level Percent Proficient from the MDE Assessment Files. Headline metric is the cumulative "Meets + Exceeds Standards" rate (top 2 of 4 MCA performance levels).
How often is it updated?
MCA is administered once a year (spring). Results are released by the state in the summer or early fall. We refresh this page after each annual release.