The top reported proficiency rate is 44% in English language arts. The lowest is 20% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Pickett Elem.
Pickett Elementary sits on Pickett Road in St. Joseph, a mid-sized Missouri River city with a diversified industrial economy centered on food processing, animal health pharmaceuticals, and heavy equipment manufacturing. The school serves students from prekindergarten through sixth grade as a regular public school within the St. Joseph School District. Every enrolled student qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a marker of the high level of economic need in the attendance zone. Enrollment draws from a student body that is majority white, with notable shares of Hispanic students and students of two or more races, and smaller numbers of Black and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students.
State test results from the Missouri Assessment Program show a mixed picture across subjects and grade levels. In math, proficiency rates vary widely. Third-grade math proficiency is in the mid-range, fourth grade comes in higher, and sixth grade reaches the strongest mark among tested grades. Fifth grade math is notably weaker, with a small share of students meeting the proficient or advanced threshold. In English language arts, only third-grade results were reported, and those show about two in five students reaching proficiency. Results for fourth, fifth, and sixth grade ELA were suppressed, likely due to small group sizes or data privacy rules; a parent may want to ask the school directly how its older elementary students are performing in reading and writing. In fifth-grade science, about one in five students scored proficient or above.
Taken together, overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places Pickett below the midpoint among districts in Buchanan County. The district itself is undergoing a grade reconfiguration starting in the 2026-27 school year, converting Lafayette High School into a middle school and Robidoux Middle School into an elementary school, following a bond issue and operating levy passed in 2020.
The surrounding housing market reflects the area’s broad affordability. Home values in the school’s ZIP code are well below both the state and national benchmarks, and rent levels are moderate relative to incomes. St. Joseph’s population has gradually declined in recent years, though its industrial base remains active with major employers in healthcare, food processing, and animal health pharmaceuticals. The city offers a historic downtown, a network of parks and trails, and a public bus system, but is otherwise auto-oriented. The nearest commercial airport is roughly a thirty-five-minute drive south in Kansas City.
Because Pickett serves only elementary and middle grades, there is no graduation rate to consider. The school does not report data on chronic absenteeism or discipline, and no information on program offerings such as gifted education or specialized tracks was available. For a family weighing this school, the central takeaway is an elementary school operating in a high-poverty context, with academic results that lag the county norms, particularly in fifth-grade math and in science. The stronger sixth-grade math results suggest pockets of progress, and the absence of ELA data for the upper elementary grades leaves a significant question unanswered. Families would likely benefit from speaking directly with the school about interventions, instructional support, and how the coming district reconfiguration may affect Pickett’s grade configuration or programming.
See more original research from School Decision →