Original Research by School Decision on Swedeborg R-iii
The Swedeborg R-III district is a very small K-8 school system in rural Pulaski County, Missouri. With an enrollment that places it among the smallest districts in the county, it serves students from prekindergarten through eighth grade in a single elementary school. Because the district does not operate a high school, families with children beyond eighth grade must arrange for secondary education elsewhere, typically through a neighboring district or a private school.
State assessment data for the district is almost entirely suppressed. On the Missouri Assessment Program tests for math, English language arts, and science at grades five and eight, the results cannot be reported publicly because the number of tested students in each grade is so small that individual students could be identified. This means that parents looking at the district’s state testing record will find no usable proficiency rates, no scale scores, and no participation rates. The lack of public achievement data is a direct consequence of the district’s size and is not itself an indicator of poor performance, but it does mean that families cannot use state test results to compare academic outcomes here with those in larger districts. A parent may want to contact the school directly to ask about classroom-level progress or local assessments.
The student body is overwhelmingly white, with a very small number of Black students and no other racial or ethnic groups represented in the reported data. Information on the share of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals, as well as the number of students with disabilities or English learners, was not available in the data used for this profile. The district’s chronic absenteeism rate places it above the midpoint among the five districts in Pulaski County. That rate, while not exceptionally high within the county, is something a family might wish to discuss with the school, especially given the small enrollment where a few students can drive the overall figure. Per-pupil current spending is in the upper range among county districts, which is typical for a very small district where fixed costs are distributed over few students.
Housing in the communities the district serves is moderately priced. The weighted average home value across the two ZIP codes that contribute to the district shows a modest year-over-year increase, roughly in line with the state average but below the national average. The largest share of the district’s housing market is in the Richland area, with a smaller portion in Crocker. These are small, rural communities in central Missouri, and housing costs are relatively low compared to the state as a whole. No recent district-level changes of lasting relevance to parents were found in publicly available sources; the district appears to have maintained a steady, small-scale operation.
For a family considering this district, the essential facts are that it is very small, covers only elementary and middle school grades, and does not produce public state test scores. A parent who values a close-knit, rural school environment and is prepared to plan for high school options after eighth grade may find it a suitable fit. A family that relies on state test data to compare academic performance will have no public numbers to work with here. The district’s upper-range per-pupil spending and location within a county with generally modest housing values round out the picture.
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