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Westonka Earns ‘Best K-8 Schools’ Rankings

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November 16, 2023 — Westonka Public Schools is home to some of the top schools in Minnesota for elementary and middle school students, according to the “Best K-8 Schools” rankings released this week by U.S. News & World Report. Grandview Middle School earned a No. 10 state ranking in the 2024 U.S. News “Best Middle Schools” list. Additionally, both Hilltop Primary School and Shirley Hills Primary School are among the Top 100 “Best Elementary Schools” out of 1,672 schools included in the ranking.

Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Mark Femrite said that it comes as no surprise that Westonka’s schools are counted among the state's best. “When you walk into any one of our schools in Westonka, you will find teachers and staff who are engaged with creating nurturing learning environments for all students,” Femrite said. “Our educators are focused on instruction and learning with each child in their classroom.”

The 2024 K-8 rankings were based entirely on publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Education. For each state, schools were assessed on their shares of students who were proficient or above proficient in their mathematics and reading/language arts state assessments in the 2020-21 school year. Half of the formula assessed the scores themselves and the other half incorporated the test results in the context of socioeconomic demographics. Read the full methodology.

Mound Westonka High School earned “Best High School” recognition from U.S. News & World Report earlier this year. MWHS ranks as the No. 17 Minnesota high school overall and the No. 12 traditional high school in the 2023-24 ranking released in August.


 

Becca Neuger
neugerb@westonka.k12.mn.us
(952) 491-8003