The top reported proficiency rate is 19% in English language arts. The lowest is 12% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Licking Elem.
Licking Elementary serves roughly the entirety of the student population of the Licking R-VIII district, housing all children from prekindergarten through sixth grade on a single campus. The school is a regular public school, neither a charter nor a magnet, and sits in a small Ozarks town whose character has been shaped by the opening of a state correctional center that once doubled the town’s population. The prison remains the dominant employer, alongside the school district itself, and the town describes its own atmosphere as a “hometown” one, known regionally for hunting and for a small Amish community that relocated there. The district operates this elementary school and the separate Licking High School, so families with children through sixth grade will find them all under one roof here.
State assessment results from the 2024-25 school year provide a mixed picture. In third-grade math, roughly one in eight students scored proficient or above, a rate that rose modestly to about one in five in fourth grade before dropping sharply in fifth and sixth grades, where fewer than one in ten students met proficiency in each grade. English language arts results were somewhat stronger overall but still low: third grade showed about one in seven students proficient, fourth grade about one in five, and sixth grade about one in five as well; fifth grade results for English language arts were suppressed in available data. Science results for fifth grade were also suppressed. Read across all tested grades and subjects, the school’s overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Texas County. This is a soft spot a parent may want to discuss further with the school, especially to understand what academic interventions or supports are in place.
The student body is overwhelmingly white, with a very small percentage of Hispanic students and a similarly small share of American Indian or multiracial students. Every student enrolled qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, an indicator that the school serves a population with high economic need. The total enrollment is moderate for an elementary school covering this span of grades, and the school runs through sixth grade, so children who attend here will move on to the high school after completing elementary.
Housing in the area is well below the state and national median home value, which will be relevant for families looking to buy. The town’s population declined from a peak earlier this century but has seen a modest recovery in very recent estimates, per publicly reported data. The school campus is set apart from the downtown Main Street corridor, on College Avenue, while municipal government anchors downtown. A branch of the Texas County Library serves the town, and the area is close to several state parks and national forest land, giving families recreational options within a short drive.
The district brief showed no recent major curriculum overhauls, referendums, or property-tax changes in publicly available materials, so there is no indication of a pending shift in the school’s academic direction. A parent considering Licking Elementary will want to weigh the very low proficiency rates on state assessments against the context of a high-poverty rural community with a single feeder elementary, and may want to ask directly about any targeted support for math and reading in the upper elementary grades.
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