The top reported proficiency rate is 36% in English language arts. The lowest is 35% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Clearwater Elementary
Clearwater Elementary serves prekindergarten through fourth grade in Piedmont, a small Ozark Foothills town in southeastern Missouri. The school is part of the Clearwater R-I School District, which operates an elementary, middle, and high school serving the western part of Wayne County. The town itself is compact and car-dependent, with a traditional grid street pattern, local businesses along Highway 34 and 49, and a notable cultural identity built around local UFO history, including an annual UFO Festival and space-themed public art. Nearby Clearwater Lake brings seasonal tourism for boating and fishing, and Sam A. Baker State Park is close by for outdoor recreation. Housing values in the area are well below national and state medians, and while home prices have been flat recently, a family looking to buy would find a relatively affordable market compared to much of Missouri.
The school’s enrollment is predominantly white, and a substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that many families in the community face economic challenges. The school serves the early elementary grades, so there is no graduation rate to report, and state testing results are only available for the grades that are assessed. On the Missouri Assessment Program, third graders showed proficiency rates in both math and English language arts that were meaningfully higher than what fourth graders posted in those same subjects. The picture that emerges is of a school where younger students, just entering formal testing, perform at a notably stronger level than their slightly older peers. A parent considering the school may want to discuss with the principal or classroom teachers what accounts for this pattern and how the school supports students as they move through the primary grades.
When compared against the handful of other districts in Wayne County, the school’s overall proficiency index sits in the top quartile. That relative position provides some context, but the county comparison set is small, so it offers a narrow lens. Publicly reported data on chronic absenteeism and discipline were not available, nor were staffing ratios or course access details. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and Title I status was not reported in the data we reviewed.
For parents who value a small-town setting with outdoor recreation nearby and a school that serves only the early elementary years before students move on to a shared middle and high school campus, Clearwater Elementary fits that profile. The academic picture shows a mixed performance by grade level, with third graders turning in stronger results than fourth graders in both tested subjects. The housing market is affordable relative to the broader state, and the community, while remote from major highways and interstate access, has a distinct local character and seasonal tourism that gives it a different rhythm than a typical bedroom suburb. A parent should expect a tight-knit, rural school environment where the district’s entire K-12 pathway is contained within the same community.
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