Original Research by School Decision on Maplewood Elem School
Maplewood Elementary serves children in pre-K through second grade in Cahokia Heights, a residential suburb in the Metro East region across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. The school sits in a small community experiencing long-term population decline but recent reinvestment, with a new high school campus opening this year financed through district reserves and lease certificates rather than a property tax increase.
The school enrolls a small population of about three hundred students, with most housed in kindergarten through second grade, and a single fifth-grader (suggesting possible enrollment from outside the grade band, a data point worth clarifying with the school). The population is predominantly Black, with a small representation of white and multiracial students and very few Hispanic or Asian students. Free-or-reduced-price lunch counts and special education enrollment figures are not publicly available, so a parent should ask the school directly about the share of economically disadvantaged students and the scope of special services.
State testing data for Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) in math and English language arts, and the Illinois Science Assessment, are not reported for Maplewood. This is expected: the school serves only grades that are not assessed statewide. Fifth-grade assessment results, which would normally be available, are suppressed or missing in the public record, likely due to the very small fifth-grade cohort. Without these benchmarks, state testing cannot provide a window into academic performance. A parent would need to speak with the school about curriculum, classroom reading and math instruction, assessment practices they do use, and student growth trajectories at the grade levels served.
Cahokia Heights is an auto-oriented suburban environment where daily errands require a car. The community has a major retail corridor along Camp Jackson Road and transit access through MetroBus routes that connect to the MetroLink light-rail system. Touchette Regional Hospital is the largest employer in the area. The local housing market is inexpensive relative to state and national benchmarks, with median listing prices substantially lower than state and national medians. A new affordable housing development, Vivian's Village, opened in 2025 next to the hospital and signals intentional efforts to stabilize the population after decades of decline.
The school sits within a district that has committed significant resources to elementary and high school infrastructure. The new high school opening in fall 2026 represents the most visible change and was financed without a property tax referendum. For families with young children at Maplewood, the pipeline into a modern secondary facility is now concrete rather than uncertain.
Illinois does not disclose attendance, discipline, or chronic absenteeism rates at the school level, so no public data on these topics are available. A parent interested in the school's approach to attendance, behavior, and family engagement should reach out directly. Program offerings and course details are not reported in the available data. The school directory lists it as a regular public school with no magnet or charter designation.
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