The top reported proficiency rate is 19% in Science. The lowest is 8% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Momentum Acad Tower Grove East
Momentum Acad Tower Grove East is a charter school in St. Louis serving kindergarten through eighth grade. It operates under the Momentum Academy district, a small network of three campuses in the city’s south side. The school occupies a building on South Grand Boulevard, in the Tower Grove East neighborhood. The district itself underwent a rebranding in 2022, dropping its previous affiliation with the National Eagle College Prep name and adopting the Momentum identity, and its charter contract was renewed through 2028 by the Missouri Charter Public School Commission.
The school is small. Its student body is overwhelmingly Black, with a very small share of white, Asian, Hispanic, and multiracial students. Every enrolled student qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a measure that indicates a high-poverty population. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the support services it provides for those groups.
State test results are reported for the Missouri Assessment Program across grades three through eight. Proficiency rates in math and English language arts are low. In math, the proportion of students scoring proficient or above falls in the range of roughly one in ten students across the grades where rates were reported. In English language arts, the pattern is similar, with the data showing that in fourth grade only a small handful of students reached proficiency, and several grade levels had results suppressed due to privacy guidelines. Science results are available for fifth and eighth grades; the eighth-grade science rate was somewhat higher, though still well below the majority.
When placed alongside other districts within St. Louis city, Momentum Acad Tower Grove East’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits in the bottom quartile. This is a weak academic picture, and families considering the school will want to understand what interventions and instructional supports are in place to raise achievement.
Because the school ends at eighth grade, there is no four-year graduation rate to examine. The school also does not provide publicly reported chronic absenteeism data, which would otherwise give a window into daily attendance patterns.
St. Louis itself is an independent city with a diverse economy anchored by institutions such as Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Washington University Medical Center, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and several Fortune-ranked companies. The city offers a wide array of cultural and civic amenities: the Gateway Arch, Forest Park, the Saint Louis Zoo, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and multiple museums. For families, the school sits within a dense urban environment with many neighborhood options, though the local housing market in the immediate zip code shows home values below the national median and rents that have been rising slowly. The city’s political boundaries have been fixed since its separation from St. Louis County in the late nineteenth century, and its population has declined over many decades.
A school like this one fits a family that values a small, neighborhood-based charter option within the city and is comfortable with the academic performance data. Given the very limited student counts at each grade level, a close look at class sizes, teacher qualifications, and the specific curriculum offered would be useful. The district’s recent rebranding suggests a desire to forge a new identity, but test results have not yet shown a turnaround. A parent should plan to visit, ask about academic supports, and compare this school with other choices available in St. Louis.
See more original research from School Decision →