The top reported proficiency rate is 26% in Math. The lowest is 20% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Meadville Elem.
Meadville Elementary is a regular public school that serves about 115 students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, making it the only elementary school in the Meadville R-IV district. It sits in the small, rural community of Meadville, a town in southwest Linn County, Missouri, that has experienced a slow population decline in recent years. The school’s student body is, by the numbers, overwhelmingly white, and a little over a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that reflects a modest economic need in a community whose largest employment sectors are health care, public administration, and construction.
State testing data from the 2024-25 school year offers a limited picture of academic performance because most results have been suppressed by the state, likely due to the small number of students in each tested grade. The school tested students in math, English language arts, and science across grades three through six. For only one grade and one subject did Missouri report a useable rate: at fourth-grade math, about a quarter of students met the state’s proficiency standard. That is a low figure, and the comparison data for the district places its overall proficiency index below the midpoint among the five districts in Linn County. A parent considering the school should note that this single measure leaves a great deal unknown about how students are performing in other grades and subjects, but the available data does not suggest strong scores.
In science, the only reported result is for fifth grade, where one-fifth of students reached proficiency. The pattern across the other grades and in English language arts is largely suppressed, meaning the state did not release those figures for privacy reasons stemming from small testing groups. That is common for a school of this enrollment size, but it also means it is not possible to assemble a complete picture of academic achievement here from the state’s assessment system. The school serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, so there is no graduation rate to examine. Because the school only goes through sixth grade, the trajectory of learning after students leave is part of a separate question about the district’s middle school and high school, which are not covered here.
The school environment data is thin. There is no reported information on discipline, course access, staffing, or attendance, so it is not possible to comment on chronic absenteeism, teacher qualifications, or the range of programs offered. That absence is worth noting, but it does not reflect a judgment; the data simply was not available in the sources reviewed.
Housing in the area shows a typical small-town pattern. Median home values in the town’s ZIP code, based on a recent estimate, are notably lower than the state average, and the national market is higher still. The community is auto-dependent, with most residents driving alone to work and an average car ownership of two vehicles per household. There is no evidence of major new development or growth in Meadville; the population has been trending down slightly, though property values saw a noticeable increase in the early 2020s.
The school’s district, Meadville R-IV, is very small, and a search for recent parent-relevant changes such as referenda, curriculum shifts, or policy overhauls found little to report. No major district changes were identified in publicly available sources. This is consistent with a small, stable rural district where operations tend to remain consistent year to year.
For a family considering this school, the most straightforward takeaway is that it is a very small elementary school in a rural town that is shrinking slowly, with a heavily white student body and modest rates of economic disadvantage. The state test results are too sparse to draw strong conclusions about overall academic performance, but the one grade-level result that is visible is lower than its county peers. A parent would likely benefit from asking the school directly about its curricula, how it supports students who are below the proficiency line, and what academic programs are in place across the primary grades.
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