Aspen Academy

14825 Zinran Avenue

School District

Aspen Academy
Grade

K-8
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:13
Type

charter

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on August 29, 2022

Sped program is great, classroom para's or one to one para's are easy to get.Classes are capped at 22 kids and are often closer to 20 kids.Lots of younger and newer teachers, has its pluses and minuses, but all teachers are still energetic and excited to teach - no mean or sad teachers here.
Submitted by parent on May 23, 2022

The school is really good through fourth grade. The middle school is not managed well. There's not a lot of kids in the middle school there, which is good education wise but bad in regards to social interactions. All the school bullies do is pick on the same kids over and over again. It's too small of a group of kids and there's too much in-fighting. After being picked on for countless things over the school year now my child is being picked on because she has an IEP.I've actually at the end of the school day had to go in to the school and try and track down vice principals and other leadership to get answers on what's going on with certain issues. The teachers are the only reason this school review didn't get 0 stars. It's the administration itself and how they deal with bullying. During the most recent incident A kid had thrown a pencil right in my daughters face. He was following her through the halls calling her a “special needs brat” repeatedly.
Submitted by parent on November 30, 2021

bullied every day bye students and some students said wrote mean things.
Submitted by parent on October 29, 2021

Our family has been proud members of the Aspen family for 8 years and while the school was a good fit in the past, over the past two years there has been a dramatic change in the leadership and staff. The school used to be everything you would expect from a Charter School, parent engagement, parent involvement and collaboration. The school is now run but a very liberal school board and administration incorporating many of the liberal policies of the public MN school system. Many of the policies are being passed in special and closed meetings without any visibility to the public. When complaints have been made to the administration and school board, we received emails stating, if Aspen is no longer a fit, we suggest you find other educational options. In regard to MCA scores and teaching to the individual needs of the kids, this is also lacking. The MCA scores last year dropped dramatically and are now inline with the district scores. While Covid has been tough for all schools, I would expect Aspen with smaller classrooms to have taken less of a hit. There are also NO after school activities or PTO. The school board, run by the same members that get voted in year after year with no term limits, do what they want and play by there own rules, even recently changing the recent election rules without any of the parents knowing. They also have school board candidates running for office that have HIGH conflict of interest. They don't follow policy and they don't care, it's our way or the highway, find a different school. So we did, and what a breathe of fresh air it has been.
Submitted by parent on September 21, 2021

Aspen Academy was a pretty good school several years ago. In the past few years it has become the bastion of the religious right in the Prior Lake/Savage community who don't want to pay for public school but want to exert a lot of control over a public school. If you are a white, evangelical Christian nationalist, you will feel right at home. If you are a different race or religion or if your child is anything other than straight and fitting all gender stereotypes, they will be ridiculed and bullied by the children and you will be by the adults in the very involved parent community.
Submitted by parent on September 01, 2020

I'm so glad that I have my kids at the school. My middle school student receives an "Honors" education but without having to test to get into the classes. He also doesn't have the hours of busy work homework that honors classes normally have.
Submitted by parent on May 20, 2019

I thought of wanting to pull my child out from school 3-4 times now.Many parents pulled their kids out even in the middle of the school year. Student turnarounds are high also.
Submitted by student on April 24, 2019

The used to be good 5 years ago, but everything seems to be taking huge dips as the years go on, especially this year. I wouldn't recommend until major improvements.
Submitted by parent on January 14, 2019

I started at the local public school and switched. I love the small class sizes and the sense of community. As a parent, I love that I can approach the school with ways to improve procedures and they listen! They hold themselves up to high expectations and it reflects onto the students.
Submitted by parent on June 03, 2015

Aspen is a great place to learn. The teachers are heavily invested in the process of getting your child to where they need to be. Uniforms on the kids give the classroom a sense of learning rather than being the best dressed. The kids are taught via core curriculum, and are able to put together large concepts versus understanding bits and pieces. There is a lot of homework, but knowing that my child is geared toward success in small (22 or less) classrooms is fantastic.If there is any downside - The building is not owned but the school rents, thus, playground is limited. Also, if you do not carpool, the bus outside of district is $1000/year.
Submitted by parent on October 24, 2013

I have two kids in the school and there are two major components of this school that impress me and sets itself apart from other schools, high academics- I don't know another public school, nor private that starts the children out speaking spanish as a second language in kindergarten. The level of parental involvement and real sense of community is the other. I would highly recommend this school!
Submitted by parent on September 23, 2013

We love Aspen Academy for so many reasons: top-notch teachers, core knowledge cirriculum which is more challenging and advanced than most schools in the area, small class sizes, close-knit parent community second to none, volunteering required of all families who lovingly and willingly show up to serve, high expectations and solid enforcement of them, solid leadership, non-union teachers who perform and bottom line...high test scores.
Submitted by parent on September 04, 2012

My daughter spent one year at Aspen. The culture of the the school is more rigid and the philosophy more socialistic. Kids are rarely rewarded for work done well, they are just penalized if they don't get it done. There is small class sizes so teachers have more ablity to connect with each kid, there are few if any discipline issues or innapropriate language. Most of the families are highly active in their kids lives. However, the leadership of the school sees themselves as the expert and rarely considers input from parents. One needs to embrace their philosophy that they are the primary educator of your child and what they beleive is best must be followed regardless of a parents experience or knowledge of their child or particular area. Grading and progress is challenging to evaluate throughout the year, one must have great trust in the teacher. Trust is difficult to establish since parent has little involvement in the learning process. We highly value a culture of honor, humility and collaboration. Our experiences at the school did not find a match in these values.