The top reported proficiency rate is 42% in English language arts. The lowest is 39% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Dardenne Elem.
Dardenne Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school in the Fort Zumwalt School District, the district that covers most of O’Fallon, Missouri. O’Fallon is a large, auto-oriented St. Louis suburb with a mix of residential subdivisions, commercial corridors, and major employers such as Mastercard and True Manufacturing. The school sits on Highway K near shopping complexes and is one of many elementary schools spread across the city rather than concentrated in a downtown core. Because Dardenne is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to report, and state testing data is available only for grades three through five.
The school’s academic performance, based on the Missouri Assessment Program, shows a mixed picture that parents will want to examine by grade and subject. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above varies noticeably from one grade to the next, with the lowest rates in third grade and a higher share in fourth grade before dropping again in fifth grade. English language arts follows a similar pattern, with fourth and fifth graders reaching proficiency at higher rates than third graders. Science results for fifth grade are suppressed in the available data, so no performance information is available for that subject. When the school is placed relative to districts in St. Charles County, its overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grades falls in the bottom quartile. A parent considering the school may want to ask how individual student progress is tracked across the elementary years and what supports are in place for students who are not yet meeting proficiency benchmarks.
Enrollment at Dardenne is in the mid-hundreds, with each grade from kindergarten through fifth served by a roughly even number of students. The student body is majority white, with the largest minority groups being Hispanic students and those identifying as two or more races. A smaller share of students are Black, Asian, or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. About half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a moderate level of economic need. The district did not report data on English learner or special education populations in the available records, so a parent may wish to ask the school directly about those support structures.
The housing market around the school is relatively expensive. Home values in the area are well above the national median, and rents follow a similar pattern. Both have posted recent modest year-over-year growth. The area has low unemployment and a median household income that exceeds the national figure. O’Fallon has been growing steadily over the past decade and has received multiple rankings from Money magazine as a desirable place to live. The city maintains an extensive parks system with sports complexes, walking paths, and recreational facilities, but the built environment remains car-dependent.
No recent parent-relevant changes were identified in the Fort Zumwalt district through publicly reported information. The school itself operates as a regular public school with no charter or magnet designation, and its Title I status is not listed. Dardenne Elementary offers a standard elementary curriculum for its grade span. For families weighing this school, the academic results are uneven across grades and subjects, and the school’s overall proficiency falls below the midpoint of its county peers. The community context offers a stable, growing suburb with a strong employment base and substantial recreational amenities, but the school’s academic profile is a point that merits direct conversation with the principal or teaching staff.
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