The top reported proficiency rate is 12% in Math. The lowest is 9% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Lee A. Tolbert Com. Academy
Lee A. Tolbert Community Academy is a single-school district in Jackson County, Missouri, serving students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Because it stops at eighth grade, there is no high school graduation rate to report, and the academic measures cover only the grades that state testing requires.
The district has a moderate-sized enrollment for its grade span. The student body is overwhelmingly Black, with small shares of students who are Hispanic, two or more races, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and American Indian or Alaska Native, and a very small number of White students. Data on students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals, students with individualized education programs, and English learners were not available in the provided records; those gaps often reflect the school's reporting choices rather than the absence of such populations, but a parent may want to ask the school directly for that picture.
On Missouri’s state assessments for math and English language arts, across grades three through eight, the share of students scoring proficient or above is low. The same pattern holds in science at the fifth- and eighth-grade levels. When placed among all districts in Jackson County, the district’s overall proficiency index lands in the bottom quartile. This is a district where academic attainment, by the state’s standard, is well below the county midpoint, and a parent considering this school should expect that catching up or significant additional support may be needed.
Chronic absenteeism is also a concern. The rate of students missing enough school to be considered chronically absent is in the bottom quartile countywide, meaning a relatively high share of students are not in class regularly. That pattern often correlates with the academic struggles visible in the test scores.
On the spending side, the district’s per-pupil current expenditure is in the upper range among Jackson County districts. The district spends more per student than most of its neighbors, even while outcomes are weaker, which could reflect higher costs related to student needs or smaller scale.
The district operates as a charter school, and publicly reported information notes that its charter authorizer changed at the start of 2022, moving from the University of Missouri-Columbia to the Missouri Charter Public School Commission. That shift means a different body now oversees the school’s charter contract, renewals, and any accountability processes. A parent may want to understand how that transition has affected the school’s operations and oversight.
No locale information was provided, so the setting of the school within Jackson County is not described here. No program offerings, such as art, music, or extracurriculars, were included in the available data. The narrative is built on what was present, and these gaps mean there is less to report about the day-to-day experience a student would have. A family with a child entering middle school will also need to plan for high school placement after eighth grade, since this district does not serve those grades.
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