The top reported proficiency rate is 51% in English language arts. The lowest is 44% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Stapleton Elem.
Stapleton Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade and is part of the Joplin Schools district in southwestern Missouri. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. The school sits within the city of Joplin, a mid-sized regional hub that spans Jasper and Newton counties and functions as a service center for a multi-state area. Joplin is a sprawling, car-dependent city with a historic downtown, a notable park system, and a well-documented recovery from a destructive tornado in 2011. Publicly reported information indicates that residential development has been spreading northward, and the school district recently consolidated two aging elementary buildings into a single new school, a change that redrew attendance boundaries and directly affects where families in certain parts of the city are zoned.
The student body at Stapleton is predominantly White, with a smaller but noticeable mix of students who are two or more races, Hispanic, Black, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and American Indian or Alaska Native. About half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a common measure of economic need. Data on the share of students with individualized education plans or English learner status was not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the special education and language support programs in place.
State assessment results from the Missouri Assessment Program provide a picture of academic performance at Stapleton. In mathematics, the share of students scoring at a proficient level or above varied by grade, with the third-grade group below half, the fourth-grade group just under half, and the fifth-grade group a bit lower than that. In English language arts, third graders scored at a rate below half, fourth graders above half, and the fifth-grade result was suppressed, meaning there were too few test takers or the data did not meet privacy thresholds to report. Science results for fifth grade were also suppressed. Overall, when these rates are combined into a single proficiency index, Stapleton places in the top quartile among elementary schools across Newton County, a positive comparative signal within its local context.
Because Stapleton is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to report, and data on chronic absenteeism was not provided. The school does not serve high school grades, so measures of college and career readiness such as AP or dual-credit participation do not apply to it. A parent looking for a straightforward neighborhood elementary school within the Joplin district will find a school that, based on its testing outcomes, performs somewhat above the middle of the pack among elementary schools in the county. The proficiency pattern shows some grade-level variation, with English language arts in fourth grade standing as a relative strength and third-grade math as a softer spot. The consolidated attendance boundaries following the opening of Dover Hill Elementary mean that families should confirm which school serves their address.
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