The top reported proficiency rate is 28% in Math. The lowest is 15% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Gateway Science Acad-south Ele
Gateway Science Academy South Elementary is a charter school in St. Louis serving students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It operates as a regular public school under the Gateway Science Academy/St. Louis district. Because its grade band is elementary, there is no graduation rate to report, and the school’s academic performance is measured entirely through state assessments in math, English language arts, and science.
The school’s enrollment is fairly sizable for an elementary building. The student body is diverse. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is one indicator of the economic backgrounds families bring. The largest racial or ethnic groups are Black students and white students, followed by students who identify as two or more races, Hispanic students, and Asian students. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the records reviewed.
On state testing, the proficiency rates present a mixed picture that a parent will want to examine closely. In mathematics, the share of students scoring proficient or advanced hovered just above a quarter in third, fourth, and fifth grades. Those results are modest. In English language arts, the rates were lower. Third-grade reading proficiency was in the low teens, fourth grade was somewhat higher, and the fifth-grade ELA result was suppressed in the data, so it cannot be discussed. In science, tested only in fifth grade, about a quarter of students reached proficiency. Multi-year trend data shows only a single year of reporting for the all-grades combined proficiency rate, so there is no trend line to evaluate yet.
When placed against other districts in St. Louis city, the school’s overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint of the comparison set. That means its combined performance across tested subjects and grades is stronger than many of its city peers, though the cohort includes a wide range, and several districts post higher numbers. It is a relative strength within the local context, but the absolute proficiency levels remain low enough that a parent should ask the school directly about its instructional strategies and how it supports students who are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks.
St. Louis is a large independent city with a broad mix of neighborhoods and a diverse economy anchored by health care, research universities, federal agencies, and manufacturing. The Gateway Arch, Forest Park, the zoo, museums, and the botanical garden are major civic and cultural assets. The city’s population has shifted over time, and its political boundaries were set long ago, which shapes the landscape families navigate when choosing a school.
No recent district-level changes or strategic priorities were found in publicly available materials, so that part of the picture is a gap. The charter school structure means enrollment is not tied to a residential address in the same way a traditional district school is, so families anywhere in the city may apply. The school’s Gravois Avenue location places it in the south side of the city, an area with its own neighborhood character.
The housing market in the school’s ZIP code shows home values that are below the national median and notably below the state median. Rents are also lower than national averages. That economic context matters because the school serves a population where a large majority of students qualify for meal assistance. For a family considering this school, the academic numbers suggest that while the school performs better than many of its immediate peers in St. Louis city, the proportion of students reaching proficiency is low. A parent should expect to be an active partner in their child’s learning and may want to investigate the school’s reading and math intervention programs, class sizes, and how it addresses the gaps the test results reveal.
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