The top reported proficiency rate is 39% in Math. The lowest is 35% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Blue Hills Elem.
Blue Hills Elementary serves kindergarten through fourth grade in the Fort Osage R-I district, on the eastern edge of Independence. The school sits along U.S. 24 Highway, a stretch that feels farther from downtown Kansas City than the city’s western suburbs, closer to the more rural parts of Jackson County. Independence itself is a large, sprawling city—a mix of historic core, first-ring suburb, and open land to the east—and Blue Hills draws from the eastern side of that mix.
The school is a mid-sized elementary for its grade band. Its student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic minority and a smaller share of Black students. Children who identify as two or more races make up a noticeable portion as well. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, above the national average for public schools. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and there is no Title I status reported in the available data.
On the 2024-25 Missouri Assessment Program tests, the picture is mixed. In third-grade math, roughly two-fifths of students scored at or above the proficient level. In third-grade English language arts, just over a third did. Fourth-grade math was similar. The fourth-grade English results were suppressed in the data, so no proficiency estimate is available for that grade and subject. When you take the average of the reported proficiency rates across all tested grades and subjects, Blue Hills places in the top quartile among elementary schools in Jackson County. That is a strong relative showing, though the absolute numbers still mean a majority of tested students are scoring below the proficient bar. Parents may want to discuss with the school how those results break down by classroom and what supports are in place for students who are not yet meeting that standard.
The district, Fort Osage R-I, has no recent major changes reported in publicly available sources—no passed bond measures, boundary shifts, or new academic programs turned up in the search. That may simply mean the district has been in a period of stability, or that changes were not captured in the material reviewed. For a parent, it is worth checking directly with the district office about any upcoming facility plans or curriculum updates that could affect the elementary years.
Housing in the area served by Blue Hills is notably affordable relative to national benchmarks. Typical home values are well below the national median, and rents are even more so. The price-to-income ratio suggests homeownership is accessible for a range of household budgets, which may matter for families deciding whether to rent or buy. The local unemployment rate is moderate, and real median household income nationally has risen modestly in recent years, though Independence’s own median income sits below the national figure.
Because Blue Hills serves only through fourth grade, there is no graduation rate to consider, and no data on chronic absenteeism or discipline was available. The school environment data that often helps families understand day-to-day experience—staffing ratios, attendance patterns, course access—is missing from the record. That is not unusual for an elementary school in this data set, but a parent may want to ask the school directly about class sizes, specialist teachers, and how the school supports students who need extra help.
For a family looking at this school, the picture is of a regular public elementary in an affordable, growing part of eastern Independence, with academic results that are above average for the county but still leave room for improvement in core subjects. The district appears stable with no recent upheaval. The main open question is what the school looks like on the ground day to day, which the available numbers cannot fully answer.
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