Black Hawk Elem., Kahoka MO - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Black Hawk Elem.

Black Hawk Elementary serves students from kindergarten through fifth grade in Kahoka, a small rural community that is the county seat of Clark County in northeast Missouri. It is one of two elementary schools in the Clark County R-I district, which also operates a middle school and a high school. The school building sits on a separate campus from the town’s downtown square, where civic life centers on the courthouse and seasonal events like Old Settlers Day and Christmas on the Square.

The student body is modest in size and predominantly white, with a small share of students who are Black, Hispanic, or identify as two or more races. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, reflecting the economic realities of the rural farming area. No data on the number of students with individualized education programs or English learners was reported, so a parent looking for details on special education or language support services would need to ask the school directly.

State testing on the Missouri Assessment Program provides a picture of academic performance in grades three through five, though the school does not serve tested grades below that. In mathematics, the share of students scoring proficient or advanced varied by grade. In third grade, a minority of students reached that bar. The rate was higher in fourth grade, though still below a majority. Fifth grade math proficiency was lower. In English language arts, the pattern was similar: across all three tested grades, the share of students meeting the proficient standard was modest, with fifth grade only slightly higher than third and fourth. On the fifth grade science assessment, roughly a third of students scored proficient or above. These results suggest that a parent may want to ask about the school’s approach to reading and math intervention, especially as students move through the upper elementary grades.

Kahoka itself is a tight-knit, walkable town with a compact grid of streets. The City Square hosts community gatherings, and the town has three parks, a public library, and a farmers market pavilion. The housing market is relatively affordable compared to national benchmarks, with home values rising modestly in the past year. The district’s leadership has not announced major recent changes, based on publicly available information, and the school appears to operate as a stable neighborhood anchor.

No information on discipline rates, chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, or course access was available. These are common gaps for elementary schools that do not report such data, but a family considering Black Hawk should feel comfortable contacting the school to learn about class sizes, counseling resources, and school climate. For families who value a small-town, rural educational setting with close ties to the community and a straightforward grade span, Black Hawk Elementary provides that foundation. The academic results are softer than what many parents hope for, and asking about how the school supports students who are not yet proficient is a reasonable next step.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 338%

School 38% · District 37% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 43% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median

Grade 524%

School 24% · district not reported

▼ 12 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 324%

School 24% · District 23% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 17 pts below state median

Grade 427%

School 27% · District 28% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 34% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median

Science

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 38% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median

This schoolCLARK CO. R-I, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income31%Higher-income15%16 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income26%Higher-income81%55 pp gap