Education in Minnesota

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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;[1] the state ranked 13th on the 2006–07 Morgan Quitno Smartest State Award, and is first in the percentage of residents with at least a high school diploma.[2][3] 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.[4] In 2007 Minnesota students earned the highest average score in the nation on the ACT exam.[5] While Minnesota has chosen not to implement school vouchers,[6] it is home to the first charter school, the City Academy High School of Saint Paul.[7]

The state supports two public university and college systems, including 37 institutions in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System, and five major campuses of the University of Minnesota. It is also home to more than 20 private colleges and universities, six of which rank among the nation's top 100 liberal arts colleges, according to U.S. News & World Report.[8]

  1. ^ Table 228: Educational Attainment by State, U.S. Bureau of the Census, showing Minnesota with a 91% high school graduation rate in 2006, the second-highest in the nation. Retrieved October 12, 1020.
  2. ^ "Smartest State Award". Morgan Quitno Press. Retrieved July 24, 2006.
  3. ^ "High school diploma or higher, by percentage by state". Statemaster.com. 2004. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved August 16, 2006.
  4. ^ "Status of Girls in Minnesota" (PDF). Women's Foundation of Minnesota and the Institute for Women's Policy Research. April 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 20, 2013. Retrieved April 29, 2008.
  5. ^ "Minnesota's Class of 2007 leads the nation in ACT scores". Multimedia Holdings Corporation. 2007. Archived from the original on May 24, 2012. Retrieved August 15, 2007.
  6. ^ Hallman, Charles (March 14, 2007). "School vouchers: Who stands to gain at what cost?". Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. Archived from the original on July 23, 2014.
  7. ^ "Charter Schools". Minnesota Department of Education. 2007. Archived from the original on February 22, 2007. Retrieved May 6, 2007.
  8. ^ "Best Colleges 2009: Liberal Arts Rankings". USNews.com. 2009. Archived from the original on March 14, 2009. Retrieved March 25, 2009.