The top reported proficiency rate is 79% in Math. The lowest is 67% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Mound City Elem.
Mound City Elementary is a regular public school serving pre-kindergarten through fourth grade, part of the Mound City R-II School District in Holt County, Missouri. The school is tucked into a small, rural residential town near the interchange of Interstate 29 and Missouri Route 118. With its grade band ending at fourth grade, Mound City Elementary does not have a high school graduation rate to report; students continue on to a district middle and high school for the upper grades, so that metric simply does not apply here.
The school’s enrollment is small, which is typical for a rural elementary building. The student body is overwhelmingly white, with a very small number of students identifying as two or more races and negligible representation from other racial or ethnic groups. More than a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that places the school in a moderate range for economic disadvantage. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available, which means a parent cannot see those proportions from the public record.
State assessment results are mixed and carry a note of caution because some figures were suppressed. For third-grade English language arts, the proficiency rate was well above average. In fourth-grade math, the proficiency rate was also quite strong. However, both subjects have a significant gap: third-grade math results were suppressed, and fourth-grade English language arts results were also suppressed, making it impossible to get a full picture of how all tested grades performed across both subjects. When considering the reported results, the school’s overall proficiency index landed above the midpoint relative to the other two districts in Holt County. The comparison universe is small — just three districts — so this position should be read in that narrow context.
The town itself is a stable, slow-declining community. The 2020 census recorded a population decline from the previous decade, and recent estimates show near-flat growth. No major housing developments or commercial projects were found in public sources. Infrastructure improvements have been utility-focused — a new water tower, a new water plant, sewer expansions — all of which suggest a community maintaining its existing footprint rather than expanding.
Homeownership in Mound City is high, and property values are modest. The largest employment sectors are manufacturing, educational services, and health care and social assistance, though no specific named employers anchor the town. The nearby Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge draws visitors during spring snow goose migration, contributing to the local economy. Civic life centers on State Street, with the historic State Theater, the Mound City Museum in the former railroad depot, a public library, a city pool, and a city hall all within the compact downtown. Schools appear integrated within the town rather than on a separate campus.
The district itself showed no recent changes in publicly available sources that would be relevant to a parent.
For a family considering Mound City Elementary, the academic picture is one of generally solid performance where data is available, with enough gaps — particularly the suppressed scores in multiple grade-subject combinations — that a parent may want to follow up directly with the school to understand why those results were withheld and whether there are patterns the district can speak to. The school is small, rural, and serves only the earliest grades, which means a child’s entire K-12 experience will span at least one building transition. The community is stable but not growing, with a traditional small-town atmosphere and a modest economic base. This is a setting that will fit a family comfortable with a close-knit, agricultural community and a school where the numbers are small enough that teachers and staff are likely to know every student by name.
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