The top reported proficiency rate is 15% in Science. The lowest is 8% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on The Biome
The Biome is a single-school charter district in St. Louis, Missouri, serving kindergarten through fifth grade. As a small elementary-only district, it does not have a graduation rate to report, and state testing data is limited to the grades that sit for the Missouri Assessment Program: three through five. The district's enrollment is small, with roughly a hundred and sixty students, and the student body is overwhelmingly Black, with a very small number of white students and a handful of students of other races. Information on free or reduced-price meal eligibility, special education identification, and English learner status is not available in the data reviewed.
State test results show proficiency rates that are low across all tested subjects and grade levels. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above was in the single digits for third and fifth grade and in the mid-teens for fourth grade. In English language arts, proficiency was in the mid-teens for third grade and just over one in ten for fourth grade; fifth-grade ELA results are suppressed. In science, only fifth graders are tested, and proficiency was also in the mid-teens. These numbers are drawn from a small tested population—dozens of students per grade—so they represent a narrow snapshot. When compared with other districts in St. Louis city, The Biome's overall proficiency index lands in the bottom quartile. A parent considering the district may want to ask directly about academic interventions, curriculum alignment, and how the school intends to address these results.
Chronic absenteeism is another area that merits attention. The rate reported places the district slightly above the midpoint among St. Louis city districts, meaning a substantial portion of students miss enough school to affect learning. No staffing or teacher-student ratio data is available, so it is not possible to assess class sizes or teacher credentials from this profile.
The district's revenue per student grew over a recent four-year period and is above the Missouri state median, suggesting that per-pupil funding is relatively strong. In 2025, Saint Louis University became the district's public charter school sponsor, replacing the prior oversight body. For a single-school charter district, a sponsor change carries weight: it can shift accountability expectations, strategic guidance, and operational support. Families may wish to learn more about the new sponsor's academic expectations and how they intend to work with the school.
No locale brief was provided, so this narrative cannot describe the immediate neighborhood or housing market around the school. The school itself is located in St. Louis city, a large urban district context. The district's budget and spending, according to comparison data, falls in the middle range but the upper half among the city's districts, indicating that spending per pupil is not low.
The Biome offers a very small, elementary-only setting. Its test results and absenteeism are weak spots that a parent should investigate further with the school. The recent sponsor change adds a layer of new governance to track over time. For a family weighing this option, direct conversations with school leadership about academic plans, attendance initiatives, and the implications of the sponsor transition would be the next step beyond the data reported here.
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