STEP Academy Charter School
SAINT PAUL · MN · STEP Academy · Public charter · K-12 combined
Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
LEAP High School → Community of Peace Academy High Sch → Focus Beyond → Gordon Parks High School → Community School of Excellence High → Creative Arts Secondary School → MMSA Secondary School → Open World Learning Secondary →📋 At a glance
- ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 29% of US high schools
- 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 20% by test-taker volume
- 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 95% (75th percentile nationally)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts graduation data, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How STEP Academy Charter School compares for families
What families should know about STEP Academy Charter School.
- ▸ LocallyMN students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+7 points).
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: LEAP High School, Community of Peace Academy High Sch, Focus Beyond and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
For Parents
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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.
SAT / ACT participation
CRDC federal data · 2020-21Bottom 20% by test-taker volume
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.
🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts
What % of students graduate on time?
75th percentile nationally
Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.
👩🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC
Teacher experience & reliability
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.
🏛️ Federal Title I context
High-poverty school
Title I Schoolwide eligible
≥75% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. These schools qualify for the highest tier of federal Title I funding and typically receive extra wraparound services. Academic outcomes vary widely — check the state assessment + grad-rate tiles.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.
🏛️ Your state's public flagship
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
The in-state tuition gap is the flagship's biggest draw — most in-state families pay far less than the out-of-state sticker. Average net price after aid runs about $16,778/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.
Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.
Chronic absenteeism
Why this matters to enrollment: A low chronic-absence rate is the cleanest school-level signal of strong family connection, classroom culture, and student engagement — all upstream drivers of enrollment stability.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.
Enrollment trend & projection
Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).
If the recent trend holds…
At its recent rate of -0.8%/year, projecting from 2024's 366 students:
≈ 15 fewer students by 2029 — a real revenue/relevance risk worth getting ahead of.
An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.
Revenue at risk
At $12,879 per student in district revenue, the 15 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $193,185/year in funding at risk.
District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.
Most similar nearby high schools
The schools most like this one — same type, blended on distance and size — and where their enrollment is heading. These are the schools families here weigh against each other.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LEAP High School SAINT PAUL |
Public | 0.6 | 220 | +84.9% |
| Community of Peace Academy High Sch SAINT PAUL |
Public · charter | 1.2 | 250 | +0.0% |
| Focus Beyond SAINT PAUL |
Public | 3.2 | 212 | -10.5% |
| Gordon Parks High School SAINT PAUL |
Public | 4.2 | 217 | +92.0% |
| Community School of Excellence High SAINT PAUL |
Public · charter | 3.1 | 199 | +37.2% |
| Creative Arts Secondary School SAINT PAUL |
Public | 1.6 | 179 | +6.5% |
| MMSA Secondary School SAINT PAUL |
Public · charter | 1.6 | 171 | +24.8% |
| Open World Learning Secondary SAINT PAUL |
Public | 2.5 | 282 | +16.0% |