The Next Step
NORTH SAINT PAUL · MN · North St. Paul-Maplewood Oakdale · Public
Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
FACE TO FACE ACADEMY → Sejong Academy Upper School → South Campus Education Center → ALC Gateway to College → Lionsgate Academy AIM → Journeys Secondary School → Quora Secondary School → White Bear Area Learning Center →📋 At a glance
- 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 6% of US high schools
- 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 4% by test-taker volume
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How The Next Step compares for families
What families should know about The Next Step.
- ▸ LocallyMN students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+7 points).
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: FACE TO FACE ACADEMY, Sejong Academy Upper School, South Campus Education Center 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 4% 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.
👩🏫 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
Title I Schoolwide eligible
≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program
40-74% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The district can use Title I funds across the whole school under federal Schoolwide Program rules.
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: Chronic absence is the strongest early indicator of dropout, transfer-out, and family disengagement. A school's absenteeism trend forecasts its enrollment trend 1-3 years out.
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 -6.1%/year, projecting from 2024's 84 students:
A small or specialty program — naive trend math doesn't capture the school's full picture. Read the trend as directional, not predictive.
An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FACE TO FACE ACADEMY SAINT PAUL |
Public · charter | 4.5 | 83 | -8.8% |
| Sejong Academy Upper School MAPLEWOOD |
Public · charter | 3.0 | 65 | +6.6% |
| South Campus Education Center WHITE BEAR LAKE |
Public | 2.6 | 61 | +22.0% |
| ALC Gateway to College SAINT PAUL |
Public | 4.9 | 107 | -18.3% |
| Lionsgate Academy AIM NORTH SAINT PAUL |
Public · charter | 0.2 | 51 | — |
| Journeys Secondary School SAINT PAUL |
Public | 7.9 | 73 | +10.6% |
| Quora Secondary School LITTLE CANADA |
Public | 5.6 | 109 | -6.0% |
| White Bear Area Learning Center WHITE BEAR LAKE |
Public | 2.2 | 140 | +8.5% |