The top reported proficiency rate is 63% in Math. The lowest is 34% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Frontier Schl of Innovation-m
Frontier Schl of Innovation-M is a public charter middle school serving sixth through eighth grade in Kansas City, Missouri, part of the Frontier Schools charter network. The school is located on Universal Drive, in an industrial and commercial section of the city. Because it serves only the middle grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and state testing data covers the grades that are assessed.
The student body is small and heavily Hispanic, with a substantial share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The composition reflects the surrounding northeast Kansas City community, which has a large Latino population. A smaller but notable share of students are Black or White. This is a high-poverty school environment.
Academically, the school’s performance shows a clear pattern. On the Missouri Assessment Program, math proficiency across all three grades is strong and well above the countywide median for districts in Jackson County. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages math, ELA, and science results, places it in the top quartile among the county’s districts, a meaningful strength. In math, roughly three out of five students scored proficient or above in each grade. In English language arts, the numbers are lower: sixth grade shows about a quarter of students proficient, with improvement in seventh and eighth grades, where roughly two out of five reach proficiency. Eighth-grade science proficiency falls in a similar range. The multi-year trend data shows only a single year of results, so no trend line is available. A parent may want to ask the school how these ELA and science scores compare to previous years and what interventions are in place.
The school operates as a charter, which means it has some autonomy over curriculum and staffing while being publicly funded. Details on program offerings, such as whether the school provides advanced coursework, arts, or extracurricular activities, were not available in the data reviewed. The district brief for Frontier Schools did not surface any recent major changes, such as boundary shifts, tax referendums, or curriculum overhauls that would affect a family’s decision.
Kansas City is a large, sprawling urban center. The school is located in the eastern part of the city, not far from the Missouri River and industrial zones. The city itself has a mix of dense downtown neighborhoods and low-density residential areas spread over a wide area. Housing values in the immediate zip code are well below the national and state benchmarks, making it one of the more affordable parts of the metro area. For families looking at this school, housing costs are comparatively low, though the neighborhood immediately around Universal Drive is more industrial than residential.
The student composition and high poverty rate mean that the school likely qualifies for federal Title I funding (though that status was not reported in the data) and provides additional supports such as free meals. The peer environment is one in which many students face economic challenges, and the school’s academic results suggest that math instruction is a relative bright spot, while reading and writing are areas where the school is working to catch up to its math performance. Given the grade band, families considering this school are looking at a three-year middle school experience that feeds into high schools elsewhere, likely within the Frontier charter network or other Kansas City area options.
For a parent, this is a school that fits a family looking for a charter option in Kansas City with strong math outcomes, a high-poverty student body, and affordable nearby housing. The weaker ELA results are a soft spot worth inquiring about directly with school leadership. The lack of trend data and limited information on special education and English learner populations means a visit and conversation with the principal would be especially important to understand how the school supports students who need additional help.
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