The Health of Hopkins 270: A Slide Show

I recently created a slide deck that I now want to share with the Hopkins community.

The data reveals concerning trends, and paints a picture of a struggling district facing a critical juncture.

To put it bluntly, Hopkins is in academic decline. From 2013-2024, while other Western Metro districts maintained relatively stable MCA proficiency test rates and are well on the pathway to recovery from the pandemic. Hopkins, however, has been experiencing steep drops in academic performance across all major subjects and student demographics.

The data indicates that changes in student demographics over the past 25 years cannot explain this academic decline, particularly with other diverse districts such as Anoka-Hennepin and Osseo demonstrating drastically stronger performances than Hopkins across all MCA subjects from 2021-2024.

Also quite concerning is the enrollment exodus. Hopkins is hemorrhaging students to neighboring districts, particularly Minnetonka, which gained over 1,200 students at Hopkins’ expense. My calculations suggest that represents approximately $8.8 million in lost revenue annually – money that could fund crucial educational support as we face reductions in courses, faculty and paraprofessionals in our classrooms.

I want to see equitable educational opportunities for all members of Hopkins diverse student population. But I continue to ask the same question: what if these programs, implemented with the best of intentions under Vision 2031, are actually causing harm?

The question facing Hopkins isn’t just about test scores or enrollment numbers. It’s about the future of a community and one of its greatest resources: its public school system.

Coming Soon: A Deep Statistical Analysis

In the coming weeks, I expect to publish an in-depth statistical analysis and report examining the patterns revealed in this data, with particular focus on the demographic and performance correlations shown in slides 11-14. I am exploring what the data and science tells us about implementation challenges with Vision 2031 and the potential impact on our children if we continue to proceed on the same path. And I expect to propose some evidence-based intervention strategies for consideration.

Thank you for reading!