Rochester, MN - Today, the Minnesota Department of Education released the results of the 2025 Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments in reading and math. For Rochester Public Schools (RPS), the results are essentially unchanged from last year. Reading scores dipped slightly, and math scores increased slightly, but neither change is statistically significant.
The state releases MCA results in two formats. The first is a simple summary of all valid tests, which only includes the students who actually took the assessments. The second is called the North Star calculation, which is used in Minnesota's accountability system. The North Star method includes all eligible students and counts non-participants as not proficient, while excluding students who were not enrolled long enough to be validly attributed to a school. Rochester Public Schools uses the North Star method because it is the one the Minnesota Department of Education applies to identify schools for support and intervention through the state's accountability system.
Using the North Star calculation, 47.6 percent of RPS students were proficient in reading in 2024 compared to 46.6 percent in 2025, a decrease of one percentage point. In math, 39.4 percent were proficient in 2024 compared to 39.6 percent in 2025, an increase of less than a quarter of a point. These small shifts are not statistically significant, and thus, district performance was stable from 2024 to 2025. Results for all RPS schools are summarized in the table at the bottom of this document.
Statewide, the 2025 North Star results show 47.6 percent of students proficient in reading and 42.6 percent proficient in math, meaning that RPS results remain close to the Minnesota average. It is important to note that RPS was not able to administer the MCA tests in 2023 due to a cyberattack that disabled our technology systems.
Commenting on the results, Superintendent Dr. Kent Pekel said, "While I would like to have seen more improvement in our scores, it is not surprising that they were basically stable during a year when our schools were deeply involved in implementing a new reading curriculum across the district and fundamentally changing the way we teach reading to align with the science of reading. There is a large body of evidence that finds that when a major new initiative, such as adopting a new curriculum, is undertaken, there is often an 'implementation dip' in performance. I am confident that as our teachers and schools master the new curriculum and new approaches to teaching, we will return to the level of improvement we saw on the 2024 tests.”
RPS Director of Research and Evidence Dr. Peter Wruck has begun analyzing the data from the 2025 assessments to identify strengths and weaknesses that the school district will address over the course of the 2025-2026 school year. Dr. Wruck noted that, “Schools in RPS that are making sustained gains appear to be utilizing consistent, small-group, direct instruction with weekly progress monitoring and collaborative planning among teachers. They are pairing high expectations with targeted supports.”
School | 2024 Reading Proficiency Rate | 2025 Reading Proficiency Rate | Change in Reading 2024 to 2025 | 2024 Math Proficiency Rate | 2025 Math Proficiency Rate | Change in Math 2024 to 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rochester Public School District | 47.6% | 46.6% | -1.0% | 39.4% | 39.6% | 0.2% |
Statewide Results All Districts | 47.8% | 47.6% | -0.2% | 42.8% | 42.6% | -0.2% |
Bamber Valley Elementary School | 61.6% | 58.5% | -3.2% | 62.9% | 65.2% | 2.3% |
Bishop Elementary School | 54.4% | 47.5% | -7.0% | 60.2% | 61.5% | 1.2% |
Century High School | 53.1% | 56.0% | 2.9% | 29.8% | 36.9% | 7.0% |
Dakota Middle School | 45.0% | 47.3% | 2.3% | 24.8% | 27.2% | 2.5% |
Elton Hills Elementary School | 38.7% | 44.7% | 5.9% | 40.1% | 52.7% | 12.5% |
Folwell Elementary School | 75.9% | 69.9% | -6.1% | 68.4% | 67.0% | -1.3% |
Franklin Elementary School | 33.6% | 37.8% | 4.2% | 39.8% | 41.0% | 1.2% |
Gage Elementary School | 33.9% | 19.0% | -14.9% | 35.2% | 16.1% | -19.1% |
Gibbs Elementary School | 56.2% | 55.6% | -0.6% | 60.2% | 59.0% | -1.1% |
Hoover Elementary School | 44.9% | 44.5% | -0.4% | 47.5% | 42.7% | -4.7% |
Jefferson Elementary School | 68.9% | 68.7% | -0.3% | 70.5% | 67.9% | -2.6% |
John Adams Middle School | 51.1% | 44.5% | -6.6% | 36.7% | 29.7% | -7.0% |
John Marshall High School | 50.8% | 46.5% | -4.3% | 19.9% | 25.8% | 6.0% |
Kellogg Middle School | 47.6% | 46.6% | -1.0% | 32.8% | 36.9% | 4.1% |
Lincoln K8 School | 63.0% | 56.6% | -6.4% | 64.6% | 62.5% | -2.1% |
Longfellow Elementary School | 47.8% | 46.0% | -1.8% | 58.5% | 59.9% | 1.4% |
Mayo High School | 57.2% | 56.9% | -0.3% | 35.2% | 35.2% | 0.1% |
MNSync Online Elementary | 20.8% | 18.6% | -2.2% | 7.5% | 7.0% | -0.6% |
MNSync Online Secondary | 13.0% | 8.2% | -4.7% | 2.2% | 0.8% | -1.4% |
Overland Elementary School | 50.9% | 49.5% | -1.5% | 48.3% | 47.0% | -1.4% |
P-TECH 535 | 51.0% | 57.7% | 6.7% | 11.6% | 11.8% | 0.1% |
Pinewood Elementary School | 34.7% | 31.4% | -3.2% | 46.0% | 29.5% | -16.5% |
Riverside Central Elementary School | 21.7% | 30.8% | 9.1% | 14.6% | 33.6% | 19.0% |
Rochester Alternative Learning Center | 0.0% | 7.8% | 7.8% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Rochester Phoenix Academy | 5.4% | 12.9% | 7.5% | 5.6% | 0.0% | -5.6% |
Sunset Terrace Elementary School | 37.4% | 36.4% | -1.0% | 51.3% | 45.6% | -5.7% |
Washington Elementary School | 67.1% | 69.6% | 2.5% | 70.7% | 71.4% | 0.7% |
Willow Creek Middle School | 40.8% | 43.2% | 2.4% | 33.2% | 36.3% | 3.1% |
The Spanish Immersion program was located at Gage Elementary during the 2024-2025 school year and moved to Riverside Elementary during the 2025-2026 school year. That shift in the school population significantly influenced both schools' results.