The top reported proficiency rate is 50% in Math. The lowest is 43% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Kirbyville Elem.
Kirbyville Elementary is a regular public school serving kindergarten through third grade in the small, rural village of Kirbyville, Missouri, about a short drive east of Branson along a state highway corridor. Because the school covers only the earliest elementary years, there is no high school graduation rate to report, and the picture of student outcomes comes entirely from the state’s third-grade assessments.
On the Missouri Assessment Program, third graders at Kirbyville Elementary showed proficiency rates that put the school above the midpoint among all districts in Taney County. In math, roughly half of tested students scored at the proficient or advanced level. In English language arts, the share was just over two-fifths. These results reflect a single grade level, so a parent should keep in mind that a school serving only K–3 cannot provide a full longitudinal view of student growth. The school’s overall proficiency index, averaged across tested subjects, sits above the middle of the county’s districts, a solid position for a very small elementary program.
The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population of roughly one-tenth and small numbers of American Indian or multiracial students. About three-fifths of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that points to a substantial low-income population. Enrollment numbers are modest for a K–3 school. The school does not appear to have a Title I status flagged in the data, but the high rate of economic need suggests many students come from households that rely on federal meal programs.
Kirbyville itself is a highway-adjacent residential village with no traditional downtown or walkable commercial district. Housing values are roughly in line with the state median; the cost of living is below average for Missouri. The village saw a modest population decline in the most recent census, and no major new development has been publicly reported. Many working residents commute west to Branson, where tourism and hospitality drive the local economy.
The parent district, Kirbyville R-VI, is an elementary district. It operates only this school and a middle school serving grades four through eight. Students who live in the district attend high school in one of the neighboring communities: Branson, Forsyth, or Hollister. That structure matters for a family considering this school: a child will leave Kirbyville Elementary after third grade, move to the district’s middle school for grades four through eight, and then transfer to a different district for high school. No recent district-level changes such as curriculum shifts, property tax referendums, or boundary adjustments were found in available public records, so the near-term landscape appears stable.
For a family weighing this school, the key takeaway is that Kirbyville Elementary offers a small, rural, early-grades environment with above-county-average test results for its tested grade. The high proportion of low-income students may mean concentrated need, though the data does not detail specific support programs. The real decision for most families will also involve planning for the middle school and high school transitions that follow. A parent may want to contact the district directly to understand how the feeder patterns work, what options exist for the upper grades, and what wraparound services are available for children from lower-income households.
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