The reported proficiency rate for Science is 16%.
Original Research by School Decision on Holman Elementary
Holman Elementary is a regular public school in Berkeley, Missouri, serving students in prekindergarten through second grade. Because its grade band stops before the typical start of statewide testing, the academic data available for this school comes with an important caveat. The only subject-level testing result that appears in the records is a fifth-grade science assessment from several years ago, a grade the school does not currently serve. That result showed proficiency among a minority of tested students. More recent figures for English language arts and mathematics, reported for all grades combined, also landed in a low range. A parent should know that these test scores likely reflect students who have already left Holman for other schools in the Ferguson-Florissant district, since the school itself does not teach the grades that are tested. The school's overall proficiency index, as calculated from the data that exists, falls in the bottom quarter when compared with other districts in St. Louis County. In other words, the academic picture is incomplete and the available scores suggest challenges, but the school's early-elementary focus means families should look at the feeder schools that follow to get a fuller sense of the academic trajectory.
The student body is small and overwhelmingly economically disadvantaged, with nearly all students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. In terms of racial and ethnic makeup, the large majority of students are Black, with a noticeable Hispanic share and a very small number of White students and students of two or more races. Information on students with disabilities and English learners was not available. This is a school that serves a community with concentrated poverty, and the peer environment reflects the neighborhood it draws from.
Berkeley is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis that has seen sustained population decline over several decades. The city's housing stock, based on home values and rents in the area, is among the more affordable in the metro region. The local economy is shaped by the presence of St. Louis Lambert International Airport, portions of which lie within Berkeley's city limits, and by the former McDonnell Douglas complex that once housed Boeing's defense headquarters. Boeing moved that division out of state in a recent year, a loss that the city is still absorbing. The city has issued a request for qualifications for a downtown master plan, signaling an effort to invest in a more walkable core, but for now the built environment is dominated by large industrial and airport land uses.
The school sits within the Ferguson-Florissant R-II School District, which is itself undergoing significant change. The district has lost a substantial share of its enrollment over the past decade and recently announced a restructuring plan for the 2027-28 school year that is likely to involve school closures, boundary changes, or grade reconfiguration. In the recent past, the district closed several elementary schools and converted McCluer South-Berkeley High School into a selective STEAM academy. Families living near Holman should be aware that their child's school assignment could shift in the near future, and that the district is actively reshaping its school options.
For a parent considering Holman Elementary, the central fact is that this is an early-primary school in a district in flux, serving a high-poverty community where academic proficiency numbers have been low. The school itself does not have its own test results for the grades it teaches, so the only way to judge the academic program is through the eventual performance of students after they move up. The housing market in Berkeley is affordable but the city has been shrinking, and the district's restructuring plans mean uncertainty about which buildings will remain open. This school fits a family who values a neighborhood school close to home, who is comfortable with a student body that is predominantly Black and low-income, and who is prepared to watch the district's reorganization closely in the coming years.
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