Vineland Elem., Desoto MO - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Vineland Elem.

Vineland Elementary is a regular public school in De Soto, Missouri, serving kindergarten through sixth grade. It sits within the DeSoto 73 school district, a district that covers a small city with a working-class and railroad history, part of the wider St. Louis metropolitan area. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic students and students identifying as two or more races. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the community’s economic base in industrial rail, retail, and public-sector employment. Enrollment is moderate for an elementary school that includes sixth grade, with each grade holding a roughly similar number of students. The school does not serve high school grades, so metrics like a graduation rate and more advanced course access do not apply here.

State assessment results show a mixed pattern across grades and subjects when looking at the most recent testing year. In mathematics, fourth graders posted notably strong results, while third and fifth graders had lower proficiency rates, and sixth graders fell somewhere in the middle. English language arts results followed a similar contour: fourth grade stood out as a high point, while third, fifth, and sixth grades landed at lower levels. In science, only fifth grade is tested, and its results sat near the middle among the school’s own grade-level offerings. When compared across the county’s school districts, Vineland Elementary’s combined proficiency index places it in the top quartile, a signal that the school’s overall performance on state tests is a relative strength in Jefferson County. No multi-year trend data is available, so it is not possible to tell whether these results are improving, declining, or holding steady over time. Parents who want to understand year-over-year direction would need to ask the school directly.

The school itself offers no publicly reported data on programs such as gifted education, music, art, or extracurriculars. Nor are there figures on staffing ratios, discipline incidents, or chronic absenteeism. These gaps do not necessarily indicate a lack of offerings, but a family focused on enrichment or student support may want to inquire with the school about what is available beyond the core academic day.

The district context matters here. Starting in the 2024-2025 academic year, DeSoto 73 moved to a four-day school week, with classes Monday through Thursday and extended daily hours to meet state instructional requirements. The change was designed to aid teacher recruitment and retention. For parents, this is a major structural shift that affects childcare arrangements, family scheduling, and the rhythm of the school week. The district also held a tax rate hearing in 2024, proposing updated levies for residential and commercial property, which bears directly on the cost of living for homeowners in the district.

De Soto as a town is slowly growing, with its economy rooted in the Union Pacific Railroad repair shop, Walmart, and the district itself. The housing market is relatively affordable compared to national benchmarks, with home values modestly below the state median and rising at a moderate pace. The town has a traditional grid layout with parks, a library, and a historic theater, though most daily errands require a car. An Amtrak stop on the Texas Eagle line has been announced and pending platform construction could improve connectivity.

Vineland Elementary serves a community where many families face economic pressure, as reflected in the free- and reduced-price lunch share. Its academic performance is a clear bright spot for the district when viewed against other Jefferson County districts, although results vary widely by grade and subject, with fourth grade consistently the strongest and earlier grades presenting softer spots that a prospective parent may want to understand better. The four-day week is the most consequential recent change, and families weighing a move to De Soto should factor that into their decision, as it reshapes the school experience beyond test scores alone.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 346%

School 46% · District 56% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 482%

School 82% · District 62% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 39 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 547%

School 47% · District 54% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 663%

School 63% · District 58% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 343%

School 43% · District 46% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 474%

School 74% · District 59% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 33 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 49%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 644%

School 44% · District 44%

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Science

Grade 554%

School 54% · District 51% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

This schoolDESOTO 73, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income30%Higher-income57%27 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income69%Higher-income81%12 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income35%Higher-income55%20 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income78%Higher-income86%7 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income61%Higher-income67%6 pp gap