The top reported proficiency rate is 9% in English language arts. The lowest is 2% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Koch Elem.
Koch Elementary is a regular public school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in the Riverview Gardens School District, located within the city of St. Louis. It is a single-school building, not a charter or magnet. The student body is predominantly Black, with a small Hispanic population, and every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. This is a school where the economic need is uniformly high.
The school’s state testing results are the central fact a parent or resident will want to understand. On the Missouri Assessment Program, the share of students scoring proficient or advanced was very low in every tested subject and grade. Math proficiency fell to a sliver of students in third, fourth, and fifth grades. English language arts results were similarly low, with a slightly higher but still single-digit proficiency rate across those same grades. Science results in fifth grade were at the same floor. In the context of districts across St. Louis County, Koch Elementary sits in the bottom quartile for overall proficiency. A parent considering this school should be aware that the academic attainment measured by state tests is well below typical benchmarks for the region. It is worth investigating what academic interventions and supports are in place, and how the school measures student progress in other ways.
The school draws from the Riverview Gardens district, which has a significant recent history that directly matters to families. The district was unaccredited and received provisional accreditation in 2020. Under Missouri law, an unaccredited district must pay for students to transfer to accredited nearby districts, a fact that has historically shaped enrollment patterns and property values within the district. The provisional status means the district is still working toward full accreditation. A parent looking at this school should understand that the district’s accreditation status remains a live issue that affects school choice options and local housing market perceptions.
St. Louis itself is an independent city with a diverse, service-and-manufacturing economy and a concentration of major employers, from the Federal Reserve Bank to Barnes-Jewish Hospital and several research universities. The city has well-known cultural anchors in Forest Park, the Zoo, the Art Museum, and the Gateway Arch. But the neighborhood immediately around the school, with a zip-code-level median home value that is well below the national benchmark and a modest recent decline, reflects a market where housing is relatively affordable but has not seen the price growth of the broader region. Rent is under the national median income benchmark as well.
No data was available on class size, teacher experience, staffing ratios, or disciplinary climate. These are useful measures for any parent trying to understand the daily environment; without them, a family may want to ask the school directly about teacher turnover, class sizes, and student support services. Program offerings were also absent from the data; the school did not provide a list of enrichment or specialized programs.
Koch Elementary is a school where the economic and academic circumstances are tightly linked. Every child qualifies for meal assistance, and the test results show that a large majority of students are below the proficient bar. The district’s recent journey from unaccreditation to provisional status adds another layer of context for families weighing their options. A parent considering this school should seek out direct conversations about academic recovery efforts, support for struggling readers, and what the school’s path to full accreditation looks like.
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