South Valley Middle, Liberty MO - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on South Valley Middle

South Valley Middle, part of the Liberty 53 School District in Clay County, serves students in grades six through eight in the Kansas City suburb of Liberty. Liberty combines a historic downtown courthouse square with suburban residential neighborhoods and commercial corridors along the interstate. William Jewell College occupies its own campus within the city, giving the town a distinct small-city college presence. The district itself approved a significant bond issue in 2024 for facility improvements, safety upgrades, and additional classrooms, an investment families should expect to see play out in the condition and capacity of school buildings in the coming years.

South Valley is one of Liberty’s four middle schools. With its enrollment falling in a mid-sized range for a grade 6-8 building, it draws from the surrounding community. The student body is predominantly white, with the largest minority groups being Hispanic students and students identifying as two or more races. About one in six students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that is well below national averages and signals a relatively higher-income peer environment compared to many Missouri public schools.

On the Missouri Assessment Program, South Valley’s academic results present a mixed picture. In English language arts, proficiency held around the midpoint across grades six, seven, and eight, with eighth-grade performance rising to just over half of students meeting the standard. Math results were more uneven. Sixth-grade math proficiency was solid, but the rate dropped meaningfully by seventh grade and fell to a weaker level in eighth grade. The school’s composite proficiency index across tested grades and subjects places it below the midpoint relative to the other districts in Clay County, a group of six districts that includes a range of suburban and rural systems.

Science results for eighth graders, the only grade tested in that subject, showed about half of students scoring at or above proficient. A parent considering South Valley may want to ask the school about math acceleration supports and how the curriculum sequences material to prevent the decline seen between sixth and eighth grade. The district’s recently approved bond should be creating conditions for updates in classrooms and technology that can support these academic areas.

Housing in Liberty has a median value and typical rent that fall below national benchmarks but sit above the Missouri state average. The community’s median household income is solidly middle class, and the unemployment rate has held steady near the national rate. Liberty has grown modestly over the past decade and is projected to continue that trend, but it has not experienced the kind of rapid expansion that strains school capacity or outpaces infrastructure. The historic downtown and the presence of William Jewell give the town a character that is neither strictly bedroom suburb nor fully independent city.

No data was available on chronic absenteeism, staffing levels, course access, or discipline at South Valley, so a parent would need to pursue those topics directly with the school. What is clear is that South Valley serves a community with relatively low economic disadvantage and that its overall academic profile, while showing solid ELA results and a respectable elementary math entry point, has a soft spot in middle school math that warrants attention. Families who prioritize strong math progression through the middle grades will want to examine how the school identifies and supports students who are not yet at standard. For those who value the Liberty community’s stability, a mix of historic and suburban character, and the district’s recent investment in its physical plant, this school fits within that context.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 658%

School 58% · District 56% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median

Grade 748%

School 48% · District 48% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 828%

School 28% · District 33% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 647%

School 47% · District 49% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 748%

School 48% · District 51% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 13 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 852%

School 52% · District 53% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Science

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 48% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

This schoolLIBERTY 53, 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 6Lower-income28%Higher-income53%24 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income33%Higher-income51%19 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income38%Higher-income55%16 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income35%Higher-income64%29 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income27%Higher-income53%26 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income26%Higher-income29%3 pp gap