Parnassus Prep School-Rhetoric

Parnassus Prep School-Rhetoric is a tight-knit 9-12 campus in MAPLE GROVE, Minnesota, one of the schools within Parnassus Preparatory School. The school serves 258 students in grades 9 through 12. That puts it 30% below the typical public school in Minnesota, which averages around 371 students.

Parnassus Prep School-Rhetoric is one of 3 schools operated by Parnassus Preparatory School, a district that hosts 1,352 students overall.

In terms of who attends, Parnassus Prep School-Rhetoric shows that the largest single group is Black at 42%, but no single group is in the majority. Other groups include 41% White, 9% Asian, 4% Hispanic, 3% multiracial. By comparison, Hennepin County as a whole is about 13% Black, so the school skews noticeably more Black than its surroundings.

On the resource side, Parnassus Prep School-Rhetoric shows 19 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 13.6:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 16.3:1, putting Parnassus Prep School-Rhetoric tighter than the state norm the norm. About 37% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Parnassus Prep School-Rhetoric sits in the top 10% of Minnesota schools after the BeatsExpectations adjustment. Predicted proficiency for the school's FRL share is roughly 45.3%; actual is 58.8%, +13.5 points clear of the demographic baseline.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Hennepin County indicate the typical household earns roughly $97,653 per year, 54% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 5% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Hennepin County runs 496 public schools (combined enrollment of about 177,509 students), of which Parnassus Prep School-Rhetoric is one.

Parnassus Preparatory School-Logic is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.0 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Parnassus Prep School-Rhetoric ranks 1st on composite proficiency, above the local average of 39.9%.

Parnassus Prep School-Rhetoric operates from a suburban location. As a public charter, Parnassus Prep School-Rhetoric runs on public funding but with greater curricular and operational autonomy than a typical district school.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Parnassus Prep School-Rhetoric has climbed 148%, going from 104 students in 2018 to 258 in 2025. The Black share of enrollment rose from 32% to 42% over that span. Class-load math has widened: from 7.5:1 in 2018 to 13.6:1 in 2025.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.