The top reported proficiency rate is 60% in English language arts. The lowest is 39% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Maple Grove Elem School
Maple Grove Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in Metropolis, a small Ohio River city in Massac County that functions as a historic downtown core anchored by Superman Square and civic life concentrated around Fort Massac State Park. The school sits within Joppa-Maple Grove Unit District 38, a K-12 district that voters chose to keep independent in an April 2023 referendum rather than annexing into the larger Massac County district. That decision was defining: it kept Joppa High School open and kept the district's identity intact, though the district faces ongoing structural budget pressure from the closure of the Joppa Power Plant, which historically provided a major portion of the property tax base.
The school enrollment is small, with around a hundred students distributed across eight grade levels from early childhood through sixth grade. Demographically, the student body is predominantly white, with most other students identifying as multiracial; the data fields for free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility, English learner status, and students with IEPs were not available, so a reader cannot assess the degree of economic disadvantage or special populations served. The school is not a Title I school, according to the information provided.
On state testing, Maple Grove shows a pattern of declining proficiency as students move up through the grades in both math and English language arts. In third-grade math and ELA, proficiency reaches the low-to-mid range. By fourth grade, math dips noticeably while ELA holds steadier. In fifth grade, math proficiency falls to below the midpoint, while ELA remains moderate. By sixth grade, math proficiency is substantially lower, while ELA recovers slightly. Science testing is limited to fifth grade in the state assessment system, and Maple Grove's fifth-grade science proficiency mirrors its math result at a below-midpoint level. The state changed proficiency cutoff scores this year, so year-over-year trend comparison is not reliable.
Positioned against the two other districts in Massac County, Maple Grove's overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint, a position that reflects solid performance in the lower elementary grades but suggests vulnerability in the upper grades as students reach fourth and fifth grade. A parent may want to explore this pattern directly with the school to understand whether the school has targeted interventions for the upper elementary grades, or what support structures exist for students who are not yet proficient.
The district itself is in a pedagogical transition. During the current school year, district leaders developed a Portrait of a Graduate framework centered on three pillars—Grit, Growth, and Grace—and plan to build new mastery-based assessments. This shift toward competency-based learning will shape instruction across all grades, including Maple Grove. Additionally, in August 2025 the district opened The Summit, a NextGen STEAM Lab and makerspace at the high school with 3D printers, laser cutters, and collaborative stations, funded by an alumnus. For an elementary school in a rural district where hands-on STEM access is uncommon, this represents a meaningful resource expansion, though students would experience it more directly as they advance.
Maple Grove is part of a community under modest economic pressure. Metropolis has experienced a slow, steady population decline over recent years and faces the reality that the closure of the Joppa Power Plant removed one of the area's largest employers. The district's own tax base shrank accordingly, an issue that prompted the annexation question in 2023. Yet voters chose to sustain the district as independent. Housing in the immediate area is affordable relative to national and state benchmarks, and the median home value is below both state and national averages, which may appeal to families seeking lower entry costs, though it also reflects the economic trajectory of the locale.
The school's locale is quiet and historically rooted. Downtown Metropolis is walkable and Superman-themed, with civic life organized around the courthouse square and Fort Massac State Park is the dominant recreational anchor. State testing data was not available for graduation rate because Maple Grove does not serve high school grades. Detailed staffing, discipline, attendance, and chronic absenteeism data were not provided, so readers cannot assess school climate or resource allocation at that level of specificity.
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