Minnesota education rankings are slipping
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios
Minnesota kids are still some of the healthiest and best cared for in the nation — but in school, they haven't kept pace with their peers since the pandemic, according to a new Annie E. Casey Foundation report.
Why it matters: The foundation's "Kids Count" index is among the most widely cited comprehensive measures of children's economic, educational, health and social wellbeing.
Overall, Minnesota placed 5th — the same rank as last year — because the state outscored others on economic and social benchmarks.
- Those scores were based on metrics like rates of child poverty, parent employment, single-parent households and teen births — all of which improved in Minnesota.
The big picture: Plunging education measures between 2019 and 2024 were largely responsible for dragging down 29 states' ratings, including Minnesota's.
- Minnesota now ranks 21st in education, down from 17th last year, because of sharp declines in three of the four outcomes the report tracks.
Zoom in: Between 2019 and 2024, the share of fourth graders who weren't proficient in reading rose more in Minnesota (+7 percentage points) than it did nationally (+4).
- The share of eighth graders not proficient in math rose 10 percentage points in Minnesota vs. 6 percentage points nationally.
Between the lines: The Kids Count report reflects broader anxieties among academics and education policymakers about students' continued struggles in recovering from COVID-era learning loss.
- The ranking also speaks to concern that Minnesota students' post-COVID rebound may be stalling.
- One Minnesota Reformer analysis last September found that fewer than 1 in 8 school districts had seen their standardized tests return to their pre-pandemic levels.
What they're watching: Beyond the education metrics, the report's authors worry that federal cuts to safety-net programs and rising living costs could spell future harm to child wellbeing.
The bottom line: There's a "direct correlation" between "how states invest in children and how kids are doing," said Leslie Boissiere, Annie E. Casey Foundation vice president of external affairs.