Truman Middle School, St. Louis MO

Original Research by School Decision on Truman Middle School

Truman Middle School sits in the Lindbergh Schools district, serving grades six through eight in St. Louis, Missouri. It is a regular public school with a largely homogeneous student body; the overwhelming majority of students are white, with smaller shares identifying as Hispanic, Asian, two or more races, or Black. Roughly one in nine students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a low rate that reflects the relative affluence of the area. The school’s address places it in the 63127 zip code, where the typical home value is well above the national and state medians. Housing in the broader St. Louis County market is moving at a moderate pace: median days on market recently hovered around a month, and median listing prices have dipped slightly year over year, though the supply score remains elevated. For families considering a move, this is a pricey market, and the estimated monthly mortgage on a median-priced home meaningfully exceeds the cost of renting.

On state assessments, Truman posts a mixed picture that shifts notably by grade and subject. In math, sixth and seventh graders each cleared the proficient-or-above bar at a rate that is solidly above the midpoint among St. Louis County districts, where the overall proficiency index for the school lands above the county median. Eighth-grade math, however, drops to a lower rate, a drop a parent may want to investigate further with the school to understand whether it reflects a curriculum change, a cohort effect, or something else. In English language arts, Truman’s results are steadier across grades six through eight, with just over half of students scoring proficient or above in each grade. Eighth-grade science shows a similar share meeting the proficiency threshold. No chronic absenteeism data was available in the record. The school’s overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint for districts in St. Louis County, a strong relative showing, though the eighth-grade math dip pulls the composite down.

St. Louis itself is an independent city with a diversified economy anchored by federal agencies, major research hospitals, and three research universities: Washington University, Saint Louis University, and the University of Missouri–St. Louis. For families who work in these sectors, the commute from the school’s southwest-side location is manageable. The city’s civic and cultural anchors, including Forest Park, the Saint Louis Zoo, and the Missouri Botanical Garden, are publicly reported assets that families may draw on. No parent-relevant changes were found for the Lindbergh Schools district through publicly available records, so the narrative cannot speak to recent bond measures, boundary shifts, or programming overhauls; the district appears stable in its offerings and direction at this level of visibility.

Truman Middle School fits a family seeking a suburban-adjacent middle school in St. Louis County with solid, above-median academic performance in most tested areas, a student population that is not economically diverse, and a setting where housing costs are steep. The school’s size is typical for a middle school serving this grade band. The dip in eighth-grade math is a wrinkle to examine, but the overall proficiency picture, especially in the lower middle grades, is reassuring. Families who value racial and economic diversity in a peer environment will want to note the demographics. Those who work in St. Louis’s core institutional employers will find the location practical, provided they are comfortable with the area’s housing market.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 661%

School 61% · District 60% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 761%

School 61% · District 64% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 845%

School 45% · District 40% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 653%

School 53% · District 53%

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 754%

School 54% · District 52% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 853%

School 53% · District 53%

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Science

Grade 856%

School 56% · District 54% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

This schoolLINDBERGH SCHOOLS, 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-income29%Higher-income57%28 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income35%Higher-income56%22 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income34%Higher-income65%31 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income39%Higher-income63%25 pp gap