The top reported proficiency rate is 6% in English language arts. The lowest is 5% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Hope Leadership Academy
Hope Leadership Academy is a single-school charter district serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Jackson County. It is a small elementary district; enrollment across all six grade levels is small enough that each grade typically has between a handful and a few dozen students. The student body is predominantly Black, with a modest share of Hispanic students and very small numbers of White students and students of two or more races. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility data was not available, nor were counts of students with disabilities or English learners, so a full picture of the student population’s economic and support needs is not possible from the data at hand.
On state assessments, Hope Leadership Academy’s academic results are low. In fourth-grade math, roughly five percent of students scored proficient or advanced. In fourth-grade English language arts, the same share, about five percent, reached that bar. Third-grade English language arts results were similar, with roughly seven percent proficient. Third-grade math results, as well as fifth-grade results in both math and English language arts, were suppressed from public reporting, likely because of small group sizes rather than an absence of testing. Fifth-grade science results were also suppressed. Across the few grade-level subjects where a rate is reported, the overall proficiency picture places the district in the bottom quartile among Jackson County’s districts.
Chronic absenteeism is a pronounced challenge. The district’s rate is in the bottom quartile of the county, meaning a large share of elementary students miss substantial amounts of school. A parent or guardian considering this district would want to discuss directly with the school how attendance is supported and what strategies are in place to address chronic absence, given how foundational consistent attendance is at the early elementary level.
Because this is an elementary-only district, there is no high school graduation rate to report, nor are there data on college-going, Advanced Placement, or career and technical programs. The district’s per-pupil current spending falls in the middle range, upper half compared to other Jackson County districts, a neutral characteristic.
A notable governance change occurred in 2022, when Saint Louis University became the district’s charter school sponsor, replacing the prior oversight body. For a charter school, the sponsor is the organization authorized to hold the school accountable for performance and renewal. This shift gives the district a new long-term relationship with a university-based sponsor, a fact families may want to understand in terms of what expectations and support that entails.
The district consists of a single school, also named Hope Leadership Academy, which is classified as open and operational. Because the district is its own school, the neighborhood context and building location would be the same for all enrolled families, but the data provided did not include a street address or a locale brief describing the surrounding community, so the setting is not characterized here.
For a family considering this school, the core facts are these: it is a small, K-through-5 charter with a predominantly Black student body, very low state test proficiency, and a high rate of chronic absenteeism. The sponsor change to Saint Louis University is a recent, lasting shift. Anyone interested would want to ask the school directly about its academic improvement plans, attendance initiatives, and the nature of its relationship with its new sponsor.
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