Education in the US State of Minnesota comes from a number of public and private sources and encompasses pre-Kindergarten to post-secondary levels. Minnesota has a literate and well-educated population; the state ranked 13th on the 2006–07

Morgan Quitno Morgan Quitno Press is a research and publishing company founded in 1989 and based in Lawrence, Kansas. The company compiled annual reference books of US state and city statistics. Its primary volumes included State Rankings, Health Care State Ra ...

Smartest State Award, and is first in the percentage of residents with at least a high school diploma. But while more than 90% of high school seniors graduated in 2006, about 6% of white, 28% of African American, 30% of Asian American and more than 34% of Hispanic and Native American students dropped out of school. In 2007 Minnesota students earned the highest average score in the nation on the ACT exam. While Minnesota has chosen not to implement school vouchers, it is home to the first

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

, the City Academy High School of Saint Paul. The state supports two public

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

and college systems, including 37 institutions in the

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system or Minnesota State, previously branded as MnSCU, comprises 26 state colleges and 7 state University, universities with 54 campuses throughout Minnesota. The system is the largest University ...

, and five major campuses of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. It is also home to more than 20 private colleges and universities, six of which rank among the nation's top 100

liberal arts Liberal arts education () is a traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''skill, art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the fine arts. ''Liberal arts education'' can refe ...

colleges, according to U.S. News & World Report.

K-12

Public education in Minnesota is administered by School Districts and falls under the umbrella of the

Minnesota Department of Education Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) is a state agency of Minnesota. Its headquarters are in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Minneapolis.
"Min ...

. Most School districts in the state are designated as "independent" and derive their authority from the

Minnesota Legislature The Minnesota Legislature is the bicameral legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota consisting of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senators are elected from 67 single-member districts. In order to account for decenn ...

. 49 Minnesota high schools were ranked by Newsweek in their 2013 list of the best 1000 public high schools in America Edina High School was the top ranked Minnesota school and was 121st in the nation with a 99% graduation rate, 0.9 average AP/IB test score, and 96% college-bound rate.

Standardized testing proficiency

All students

Source

Federal involvement

Minnesota schools adhere to federal guidelines like those outlined in

No Child Left Behind The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a 2002 United States Act of Congress promoted by the presidential administration of George W. Bush. It reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and included Title I provision ...

. The

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

provides 6% of operating revenue for K-12 education in the state.

Higher education

References

{{U.S. political divisions education Government of Minnesota