The top reported proficiency rate is 48% in English language arts. The lowest is 42% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Lathrop Elementary School
Lathrop Elementary School serves students from prekindergarten through fifth grade in the Lathrop R-II School District, a small public school in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The school sits in the town of Lathrop, a primarily residential community that grew up as a railroad stop and once billed itself as the Mule Capital of the World. The town is small and car-dependent, with a traditional grid downtown and fiber-to-the-home infrastructure that hints at modern utility investment despite the rural setting. Housing values here sit roughly in line with state benchmarks, and the local market has seen modest appreciation. The school occupies a compact campus at 700 Center Street, integrated into the town fabric rather than isolated on a suburban fringe.
The student body is predominantly white, as is the surrounding community. The school enrolls around 400 students across the elementary grades, with a balanced spread from kindergarten through fifth grade. No data was available on the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, nor on students with individualized education programs or English learner status. That matters because the absence of that demographic context makes it hard to assess the level of economic or learning support the school provides. A parent interested in those dimensions would need to ask the district directly.
On state assessments, Lathrop Elementary shows a mixed picture. In English language arts, roughly half of students in grades three through five scored at the proficient or advanced level. That is a reasonable outcome, and the school holds fairly steady across those grades. In math, proficiency rates are lower, settling in around two-fifths of students in each grade. Fifth-grade science results land in a similar range. When compared with other districts in Clinton County, Lathrop Elementary’s overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint among the four county districts. The top of that county grouping is not far ahead, but the gap is real. A parent looking at these results should understand that this is not a high-performing school by local standards, though neither is it at the bottom. The numbers are workable but leave room for growth, especially in math.
Because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report. That is not a weakness; it simply reflects the grade structure. Similarly, there is no chronic absenteeism data or discipline data in the available record. No information on course access or staffing was present either. The school’s website may fill some of these gaps, but they were not part of the public data reviewed.
The district brief turned up no recent major changes or initiatives of lasting impact, which suggests a period of stability. No bond measures, boundary shifts, or program launches were visible. The community itself has grown modestly over the past decade, and the town highlights its interstate access as an asset. For a family considering Lathrop Elementary, the school offers a small-town setting with conventional elementary programming and no special designations that would distinguish it from other regular public schools in the region. The academic results are adequate but not standout, and a parent who prioritizes math performance may want to discuss how the school supports that subject area. The absence of cost-of-living context like free lunch data makes it harder to gauge the socioeconomic environment, but the community is stable and the housing market is affordable relative to national averages. This school fits a family looking for a straightforward elementary experience in a quiet, connected small town.
See more original research from School Decision →