Kipp Triumph Academy, St. Louis MO

Original Research by School Decision on Kipp Triumph Academy

KIPP Triumph Academy is a charter middle school in St. Louis, serving fifth through eighth grades. It is part of the KIPP St. Louis Public Schools network, a national charter organization known for a college-preparatory mission and extended instructional time. The school sits in the city's southern neighborhoods, not far from the Mississippi River, in a section of St. Louis where a large share of residents rent their homes and housing values have been relatively flat compared to the national trend.

The student body is small for a K-8 span, almost entirely Black or African American, and every single student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure of household income. This is a student population that faces substantial economic barriers. The school does not report the share of students with disabilities or English learners in the data available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the supports offered for those groups.

On Missouri's standardized assessments, KIPP Triumph’s results are low across the board. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or advanced hovers in the single digits in every grade from five through eight. In English language arts, the pattern is similar but with one exception: eighth graders reached a markedly higher level, though still far below the state average. Science results follow the same pattern, with fifth graders scoring in line with the lows in other subjects and eighth graders again reaching a higher but still modest level. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school’s overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quarter among districts in St. Louis city. These are sober numbers that reflect a student body starting from a position of deep educational disadvantage; families considering the school should ask what academic interventions and acceleration strategies the school uses to move students toward grade-level work.

Because this is a middle school that ends at eighth grade, there is no four-year graduation rate to report. That metric will apply only once students move on to a KIPP high school or another secondary option.

The school’s environment data is thin in the public record. There is no information on chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, course access, or staffing ratios. A parent may want to request those figures from the school to get a fuller picture of daily life in the building. The district brief for KIPP St. Louis Public Schools turned up no recent parent-relevant changes, suggesting a period of relative stability in operations.

St. Louis itself is an independent city with a mixed economy anchored by large employers such as Barnes-Jewish Hospital, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and several major research universities. The city's cultural assets, including Forest Park, the Zoo, and the Art Museum, are well known, but the school sits in a part of the city where both home values and rents are below the national median. For families living nearby, this is a neighborhood school option that draws from a population that is almost entirely low-income.

In summary, KIPP Triumph Academy is a middle school serving a high-poverty, all-Black student body in the city of St. Louis. State test results show very low proficiency rates in math, ELA, and science, with eighth-grade reading and science showing some relative improvement. The school is a charter with an explicit college-preparatory mission, but the academic numbers suggest that most students are still far from that goal. A parent considering this school would want a candid conversation about how the staff works to close that gap and what evidence of progress they can point to beyond the state assessments that are available.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 56%

School 6% · District 4% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 610%

School 10% · District 14% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 76%

School 6% · District 10% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 85%

School 5% · District 13% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 56%

School 6% · District 7% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 67%

School 7% · District 10% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 712%

School 12% · District 12%

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

Grade 828%

School 28% · District 21% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Science

Grade 56%

School 6% · District 5% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 826%

School 26% · District 20% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

This schoolKIPP ST LOUIS PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 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.