These Minnesota schools serving low-income students are beating the odds

The waitlist at Global Academy has, at times, topped 900 students — proof that families see something special in the New Brighton charter school.

Drawing students from as far as Blaine and Eagan, the K–8 academy serves about 470 children this year and is known for its academic rigor and strong sense of community.

More than half of the students there are English learners, and many are new to the U.S. Over 90% of the kids come from low-income families — a main reason school leaders provide free uniforms and school supplies each year.

Students living in poverty typically face greater academic challenges, with Minnesota’s achievement gaps by race and income among the widest in the nation. It’s a “statewide crisis,” according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, that hampers the state’s workforce and economy.

Global Academy stands out as one of 50 Minnesota high-poverty schools the Minnesota Star Tribune identified through an analysis as “beating the odds,” meaning its students performed far better than expected on state math or reading tests last year.

Many of the other schools on the list are charter schools, while most of the traditional public schools, with the exception of Jie Ming Mandarin Immersion Academy in St. Paul, are located in greater Minnesota.

“We are proud of what we’re doing for Black and brown students and really helping to close that gap,” said Melissa Storbakken, the executive director of Global Academy, adding that there’s still more to do to raise her school’s scores.

Nearly half of the school’s students were reading at grade level last school year, according to the state test data. That’s comparable to proficiency rates statewide.

In addition to a strong focus on academics, school leaders credit the success to an approach to discipline and classroom management that relies on nonverbal cues and calm interactions. That, they say, helps maintain strong relationships and minimizes classroom disruptions.

Staff consistency and clear norms underpin the culture. Every teacher follows shared “essential agreements” that guide everything from lessons to student behavior in the hallway.

“There’s high buy-in into the mission from everyone here — staff, students and families,” said Emily Fisher, the school’s art teacher. “Having that collaborative community is what makes us successful.”

A second-grader named Hala agreed. “The teachers here know how to help us learn,” Hala said before listing the classroom routines and the goal of the lesson she was working on. “But they also are fun and know how to make us laugh, too.”

Students take their learning and their fun seriously at the school, and that means they’re already practicing dance moves for a Chinese New Year celebration — four months from now.

In classrooms, too, they shine, posting test score results well above what would be expected based on the magnet school’s poverty rate.

Three-fourths of students are proficient in reading despite speaking and writing exclusively in Mandarin between kindergarten and second grade. Nearly two-thirds of kids hit grade-level benchmarks on a new science test while statewide results plummeted.

But it’s the school’s math results that traditionally have been Jie Ming’s greatest source of pride, and in 2025, nearly 84% of students met grade-level standards. That’s compared with 45% statewide.

Johnson credits the work of veteran teachers — each of whom is fully tenured, which they qualify to receive after at least three years of classroom experience. Data drives the instruction.

Johnson aims, too, for Jie Ming to be joyful, a school where students hate to take a sick day or family vacation, and the attendance rates, in turn, are high.