Aspire Academy, St. Louis MO - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Aspire Academy

Aspire Academy is a public charter school in St. Louis that serves children from pre-kindergarten through second grade. Because it operates as a charter school, it is publicly funded and free to attend, and it is overseen by the Confluence Academies organization. The school building is located on Thekla Avenue in north St. Louis.

The student body is small and entirely composed of early elementary grades. Every single student enrolled qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure of the economic circumstances families in this community face. The racial composition is almost entirely Black. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported, so it is unclear what share of students receive special education services or language support.

State testing data was available for the school year that ended in 2021, but the school serves only grades PK through 2, and Missouri administers its standardized assessments starting in grade 3. The school does have students in grades 3 through 8. In that tested year, proficiency rates on the Missouri Assessment Program were very low across every subject and grade level. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or advanced was in the single digits for grades 3, 4, 6, and 7; grade 5 and grade 8 results were suppressed. In English language arts, proficiency rates ranged from the low single digits to the low twenties, with grade 8 reaching the highest point. Science results were similarly low for grades 5 and 8. When compared against other districts in St. Louis city, the school’s overall proficiency index placed it in the bottom quartile. A family reading these results will want to discuss with the school how academic support and curriculum are structured, particularly given that most of these students are still in the early elementary years and have time to build foundational skills.

Because the school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. That is a function of the grade band, not a missing outcome.

The school’s enrollment is tiny, with roughly 120 students spread across pre-kindergarten through second grade, plus the handful of older grades from 3 to 8 that appear in the testing data. Grade-level counts from the data available show a small number of students in each grade, which means class sizes are likely modest and students may receive more individual attention than at a larger school. The school does not serve grades 9 through 12, so families with older children will need to plan for a transition to another school after second grade or, based on the testing grade levels reported, perhaps beyond that within the same organization.

St. Louis is an independent city with a diverse economy anchored by manufacturing, transportation, health care, and research institutions. Major employers include Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Washington University in St. Louis, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. The city offers many cultural amenities such as Forest Park, the Saint Louis Zoo, and the Saint Louis Art Museum. Housing values in the area around the school are among the lowest in the region, and the market has been relatively flat recently. The city’s population has shifted over time, and north St. Louis in particular has experienced significant disinvestment.

No recent district-level changes or strategic priorities were publicly reported for Confluence Academies, so this narrative cannot speak to any new initiatives or leadership shifts at the organizational level. A parent considering Aspire Academy should investigate what academic supports are in place for early literacy and math, how the school addresses the learning needs reflected in the state test results, and what the pathway looks like for students after second grade. The school’s small size and early grade focus may appeal to families who want a close-knit setting for their child’s first years of school, but the academic performance data raises questions that warrant a direct conversation with the school staff.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 38%

School 8% · District 10% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 410%

School 10% · District 7% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 63%

School 3% · District 15% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 41 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 72%

School 2% · District 21% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 41 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 38%

School 8% · District 11% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 415%

School 15% · District 9% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 52%

School 2% · District 15% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 38 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 613%

School 13% · District 13% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 711%

School 11% · District 17% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 821%

School 21% · District 28% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Science

Grade 52%

School 2% · District 16% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 38 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 85%

School 5% · District 25% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

This schoolCONFLUENCE ACADEMIES, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.