The top reported proficiency rate is 37% in Math. The lowest is 16% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Compass Elementary
Compass Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade as part of the Hickman Mills C-1 district in Kansas City, Missouri. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. The school sits on the southern edge of Kansas City, in a zip code where housing values register below both the state and national benchmarks, and where rent consumes a notable share of typical household income. The area has seen modest appreciation in home values and rents over the past year, but the overall cost of buying remains lower than what many metro markets demand.
The student body at Compass Elementary is diverse. A little over half of students are Black, roughly a quarter are Hispanic, and the remainder includes a small share of white students and students who identify as two or more races. The school reports that all of its enrolled students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places it in a high-poverty category. Data on the share of students with individualized education programs or English learner status was not available, so those dimensions of student need are not possible to characterize here.
On the Missouri Assessment Program, Compass Elementary’s state testing results show a pattern that parents will want to weigh carefully. In third-grade math, just under half of students scored at the proficient level or above. Fourth-grade math was similar, with fewer than half reaching proficiency. By fifth grade, that figure dropped substantially, with roughly one in five students meeting the bar. English language arts results followed a similar downward slope from third to fifth grade, with the share of students scoring proficient or above falling from about a third in third grade to roughly one in five by fifth grade. Science results for fifth grade, the only grade tested in that subject, were lower still, with about one in six students reaching proficiency.
When compared against other Jackson County districts, Compass Elementary’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint of the county. That countywide comparison includes districts across a wide range of contexts, from urban Kansas City itself to its inner and outer suburbs. The school’s profile within that set is that of a building serving a high-need population that produces middle-of-the-pack results, not a standout performer but also not at the bottom.
Because Compass Elementary serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to examine. No chronic absenteeism data was available in the dataset used here. The district brief for Hickman Mills C-1 did not surface any recent strategic changes, budget shifts, or program additions that would directly affect a family’s day-to-day experience at this school, but the absence of that information should not be taken to mean nothing has changed; it means the publicly reported record was thin on that front.
Hickman Mills C-1 is a district that operates within the large footprint of Kansas City, a major urban center with a wide array of cultural institutions, a growing downtown residential scene, and significant economic diversity. The school itself is located in a residential area that is car-dependent, like much of the broader city. For families considering Compass Elementary, the main academic picture is one where early elementary performance is closer to middling, with a noticeable slide in the upper elementary grades. A parent may want to investigate the school’s approach to supporting students in fourth and fifth grade, particularly in math and science, given the pattern the test results show. The entirely free-lunch-eligible enrollment signals a concentrated level of economic need that shapes every aspect of school operations, from staffing to the types of wrap-around supports the school likely prioritizes.
See more original research from School Decision →