The top reported proficiency rate is 48% in Math. The lowest is 46% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Fordland Elem.
Fordland Elementary serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in the Fordland R-III district, a small, rural school system in Webster County. The school is a regular public school and sits within the small community of Fordland, which is part of the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area and sits along U.S. Route 60 in the Ozarks. The town has a largely residential, family-oriented character, and the school is a central civic institution.
The student body is very homogenous in terms of race and ethnicity, which is a characteristic for a family to weigh alongside other factors when considering the peer environment. More than nine out of ten students are white, and there are very small numbers of Hispanic students and students of two or more races. About half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that a substantial portion of families face economic challenges. The district has experienced notable enrollment growth in recent years, going from a smaller count to a larger one over a few academic years. This growth may affect class sizes and resource allocation, though the elementary school itself remains small as is typical for a rural school of this grade band.
State testing results from the Missouri Assessment Program are available for grades three through five. In math, results show a pattern of rising proficiency as students get older. On the third-grade test, less than half of students met the proficiency standard. Fourth graders performed better than third, and fifth graders reached a level that is a reasonable, though not high, pass rate. In English language arts, the third-grade proficiency rate was in the same middle range as the math results for that grade, while the fourth-grade ELA rate was not reported due to suppression, which often occurs when a group is too small to report. Fifth-grade ELA results came in near the middle. The only available science test, for fifth grade, was also suppressed. Taken together, this testing picture shows a school where performance sits in a mixed middle zone: some results near half proficient, some below, with a clear upward trend in math. A parent may want to discuss with the school how they support students who are not yet on grade level, especially in the early grades where the numbers are lower.
When compared with other districts in Webster County, Fordland Elementary’s overall proficiency falls just above the midpoint of the group. This is a middle-of-the-pack position in a county that includes several other rural districts, and it gives a reasonable starting point for understanding how this school stacks up locally. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report.
The district recently completed a major capital construction project, which represents a significant facilities investment that directly affects the learning environment for elementary students. This is a concrete change that a family moving into the area would notice. Beyond that, the district brief did not turn up other recent parent-relevant changes such as leadership turnover or program additions, so the picture is one of a stable, rural district that has invested in its physical plant.
For a family, this is a small, rural elementary school in a homogenous, family-oriented community with modest housing costs relative to national averages. The academic profile is mixed, with proficiency rates that hover around the middle in the early tested grades and improve by fifth grade in math. The school sits in a district that has grown and recently invested in its facilities, making it a plausible choice for families who want a small-town, community-centered elementary school and who are comfortable asking the school how it addresses the early academic soft spots the testing data reveals.
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