The top reported proficiency rate is 28% in English language arts. The lowest is 19% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Chaffee Elem.
Chaffee Elementary is the only public elementary school in the small, rural Chaffee R-II district, serving children from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. The school sits within a compact railroad town in northern Scott County, a community that was planned by and for the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway more than a century ago and that has since endured the loss of its manufacturing base. Parents and residents reading this profile should know that Chaffee Elementary is the kind of school that serves a town in transition, with a modest set of outcomes that merit a close look.
The student body at Chaffee Elementary is overwhelmingly white, which aligns with the broader demographics of this corner of southeastern Missouri. More than half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that points to the economic reality facing a town that lost a large share of its employment base when textile and shoe factories closed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Many residents now commute to Cape Girardeau or Sikeston for work, and the community's population has been essentially flat for decades. This is not a growing suburb or a district with a rapidly diversifying enrollment; it is a stable, predominantly low-income, homogenous community.
On the Missouri Assessment Program tests, Chaffee Elementary's results are a clear soft spot. In both math and English language arts, proficiency rates across grades three through six consistently fall below the midpoint among districts in Scott County. Reading scores in grade four were the strongest among the grade levels, while fifth grade was a notably weak year in both subjects. Science scores, which are tested only in fifth grade, also run low. A parent looking at these numbers would want to investigate further with the school, particularly around what instructional supports are available and how the school addresses students who are not yet meeting proficiency benchmarks. The comparison to other Scott County districts confirms that overall proficiency at Chaffee Elementary sits on the lower end of the county spectrum.
There are structural points in the school's favor. As a pre-K through sixth grade building, it provides an early start for families in the district. The school's location on Elliott Avenue puts it within the town's walkable, integrated street grid; it is not isolated on a distant campus. The junior-senior high school sits on West Yoakum Avenue nearby, meaning that students who continue in the district will have a clear pipeline. The district itself, Chaffee R-II, has no recent major referenda, curriculum shifts, or tax levy adjustments publicly reported, so families should not expect any dramatic changes on the horizon.
This school fits a family that values a small-town, neighborhood school for elementary-aged children, that is comfortable with a largely homogeneous peer group, and that is willing to be proactive about academic support given the test results. It does not present a standout record of high achievement, and the economic headwinds facing the town are real. A parent who wants strong, consistent test scores or a diverse student body would find a better match elsewhere in the county. A parent who wants a traditional, close-to-home elementary experience in a community where everyone knows the school is likely to find Chaffee Elementary to be a straightforward, if unremarkable, option. There is no graduation rate or chronic absenteeism data for this school because it does not serve the high school grades needed to produce those metrics, and the district-level data for those outcomes was not available in this profile.
See more original research from School Decision →