The top reported proficiency rate is 55% in Math. The lowest is 48% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Kellison Elem.
Kellison Elementary is a regular public school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Fenton, a small incorporated suburb of St. Louis within St. Louis County. It is part of the Rockwood R-VI school district, a large district that operates thirty-one schools across the area. The school draws from a predominantly residential part of Fenton, a car-dependent community built around highway access and commercial corridors rather than a walkable downtown, though the city maintains a network of parks and bike paths along the Meramec River.
On the Missouri Assessment Program, the state’s standardized test, Kellison’s results show a foundation of solid performance. In mathematics, proficiency rates across third, fourth, and fifth grades are consistent and sit in a range that is healthy for an elementary school. In English language arts, the picture is more mixed: third-grade reading proficiency is somewhat lower than the math results, and outcomes for fourth and fifth grade reading were not reported in the available data, a gap a parent may want to clarify with the school. Science testing for fifth grade was also suppressed. Looking at the broader picture of all tested subjects and grades, Kellison’s overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint when compared with other districts in St. Louis County, indicating that the school is performing well relative to its regional peers. Because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate or chronic absenteeism metric to consider; those measures apply to older students.
The student body is enrolled in numbers typical for a suburban elementary school. Racially, a large majority of students are white, with small shares of Black, Asian, Hispanic, and multiracial students. About one in five students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that is moderate and reflects a mix of household incomes. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the information provided, so a family with a child in either category may want to ask directly about the school’s staffing and supports.
The community context of Fenton shapes the school indirectly. The city promotes itself as a business-friendly place with no municipal property taxes, a large commercial and industrial district, and major employers including UniGroup, Sachs Electric, and Fabick Caterpillar. A former Chrysler assembly plant site has been redeveloped into a logistics park and commercial space. The population has declined modestly since the last census. Housing values in the school’s zip code are moderate for the St. Louis region, and the housing market is active. The municipality is split among three school districts, so attendance boundaries matter for families looking to buy or rent within Fenton.
The Rockwood district has made several recent changes that affect Kellison families. In 2022 and 2024, voters approved bond issues totaling substantial sums for capital projects including a new elementary school to address enrollment growth, safety and security upgrades, HVAC replacements, and technology infrastructure. These investments, publicly reported, are ongoing and will shape facility conditions for years. Additionally, starting in the 2023-2024 school year, the district adopted a new elementary literacy curriculum aligned with the science of reading, replacing a balanced literacy model. This shift, which includes new materials and teacher training, directly affects how reading is taught across all Rockwood elementary schools, including Kellison.
Some dimensions of school life are not covered in the data provided: there are no figures on discipline rates, chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, or specific program offerings such as gifted education or intervention services. A parent interested in those details would need to reach out to the school or district office.
Overall, Kellison Elementary presents as a solid suburban school within a well-funded district that has recently invested in facilities and updated its reading instruction. Its academic performance is comfortably above the midpoint among county districts, and the student body is largely white with moderate economic diversity. The setting is car-dependent, with a mix of residential and industrial land use, and the district has a track record of passing bond measures for improvements. For a family looking for a stable elementary experience in a growing suburban district, Kellison fits that description, though the absence of data on special populations and school environment details means some questions will need to be answered directly by the school.
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