The top reported proficiency rate is 54% in Math. The lowest is 45% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Ellington Elementary
Ellington Elementary is a regular public school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in the small town of Ellington, Missouri, the seat of Reynolds County. It is the only elementary school in the Southern Reynolds County R-II district, and it sits in the heart of a rural community that has been in steady population decline. The town functions as a local commercial and administrative stop for residents and tourists passing through the Ozark National Scenic Riverways and Clearwater Lake region. The built environment is low-density and car-dependent; families rely on personal vehicles to get around, and there is no public transit.
Academically, the school participates in Missouri’s statewide MAP assessments for grades three through five. The available results show a mixed picture. In third grade, math proficiency was reported at a level above the midpoint among county peers, and English language arts (ELA) proficiency was similarly solid for that grade. Fourth-grade math came in somewhat lower, while fourth-grade ELA results were suppressed, meaning not enough data was released to report publicly. Fifth grade presented a steeper challenge: math results were also suppressed, and the ELA proficiency rate for fifth graders was notably low. Fifth-grade science data was suppressed as well. Across all tested subjects and grades combined, the school’s overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile relative to other districts in Reynolds County—a comparison group of four districts. This suggests that while individual grade-level outcomes vary, Ellington Elementary is performing relatively well against its local peers. Still, the dip in fifth-grade reading is a soft spot that a parent may want to discuss further with the school to understand what supports are in place.
The student body is small and overwhelmingly white, with a very small Hispanic population and a similarly small share of students identifying as two or more races. Just under seven in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that points to a high-poverty community. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the records reviewed, so a parent would need to ask the school directly about those programs. The school serves as a community anchor in a town where civic institutions—city hall, the public library, and the school itself—are clustered on or near Main Street rather than isolated on separate campuses.
The housing market in the area is affordable relative to state and national averages. Home values in the Ellington ZIP code are well below the Missouri median and even further below the national median. The town’s population has been declining over the past two decades, and no major new development projects were identified in publicly available sources. The local economy is shaped by mining, lumber manufacturing, healthcare, and the school district itself. Unemployment nationally has been stable and low, though local rates may differ.
No recent changes to the district—such as bond measures, boundary shifts, or program overhauls—cleared the four-year threshold for inclusion in the district brief, so parents should watch for any new initiatives directly from the school or district office. Ellington Elementary is a school that fits a family seeking a small, rural setting with strong relative performance in a county where options are limited. The academic results are uneven by grade; families with rising fifth graders may want to pay particular attention to literacy support.
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