The top reported proficiency rate is 51% in Math. The lowest is 36% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Franklin Elem.
Franklin Elementary is a regular public school in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, serving students from prekindergarten through fourth grade. It is part of the Cape Girardeau 63 school district, a regional system that operates within a city that functions as the economic and healthcare hub of southeastern Missouri. The school sits in a neighborhood near downtown, within a city that blends a compact riverfront core with wide auto-oriented residential and commercial strips. Cape Girardeau itself is defined by two major hospitals, a public university, a manufacturing base, and a shopping corridor that draws people from across the region. The city’s population has grown modestly in recent years, and its housing market, with home values and rents that are somewhat below the state median, offers a relatively affordable entry point compared to national averages.
Franklin Elementary is a high-poverty school serving a student body where every child qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, based on the data available. The student composition is almost evenly split between Black students and white students, with a notable share of students who identify as two or more races and a smaller Hispanic presence. Asian students make up a very small fraction. The school does not report counts for students with disabilities or English learners in the available data, so a parent wanting specifics on special education staffing or ESOL support would need to ask the school directly. The enrollment is modest for a PK-4 building, and the grade-level cohorts appear to be of roughly even size from kindergarten through fourth grade, with the largest single group in fourth grade.
On state assessments, Franklin Elementary shows a picture that merits attention. In third-grade math, about two out of every five students scored at or above the proficient level. Fourth-grade math was stronger, with well over half of students meeting that bar. English language arts results were lower: just under a third of third graders reached proficiency, and fourth graders came in at roughly two-fifths. Looked at across all tested subjects and grades, the school’s overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among the five districts in Cape Girardeau County. That is a noteworthy outcome for a school with universal free lunch eligibility, as high-poverty schools across the state often struggle to reach that benchmark. The data does not provide trend lines from prior years, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent an upward or downward movement. A parent would want to ask the school about growth measures and how the school supports early literacy in particular, since the third-grade ELA number is a clear soft spot.
The school does not offer programs beyond the regular curriculum in the available data, and because it serves only primary grades, there is no graduation rate, no college readiness metrics, and no advanced course access to report. The district brief turned up no recent changes in curriculum, property tax referendums, or pedagogy shifts that would be relevant to a family considering Franklin. The larger district, Cape Girardeau 63, is one of the region’s top employers, and the school itself is a longtime neighborhood institution.
For a family trying to understand who this school fits, the profile is specific. Franklin Elementary serves a predominantly low-income community in a city that has both a university presence and a strong healthcare employment base. The academic results are uneven but, given the poverty level, they are better than what many similar schools produce in math, and less strong in reading. A family that values a school where the student body reflects the economic and racial diversity of the city’s core neighborhoods will find that here. A family whose child needs intensive reading support in the early grades may want to investigate what interventions are in place, since the third-grade ELA outcomes suggest room for growth. The housing in the attendance zone is likely among the more affordable options in Cape Girardeau, given the school’s high free-lunch share, and the commute within the city is short by any measure. The school’s small scale and early-grade focus mean a child can build a foundation before moving on to a larger intermediate or middle school in the district. No additional program offerings, magnet themes, or specialized academies are evident, so the value proposition rests on the core classroom instruction and the peer environment. A parent should visit, ask about class sizes and reading instruction, and see how the school’s math strengths translate into the classroom experience.
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