The top reported proficiency rate is 38% in English language arts. The lowest is 5% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Stix Early Childhood Ctr.
Stix Early Childhood Center is a regular public school in the city of St. Louis serving prekindergarten through second grade. Its enrollment is modest for the early grades it covers, and every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker of the school’s concentrated low-income population. The student body is predominantly Black, with a smaller share of White students and modest representation of Asian, Hispanic, and multiracial students, reflecting the broader demographics of the city’s public school system.
Because Stix serves only the earliest elementary grades, several of the metrics typically used to assess school performance do not apply. There is no graduation rate, no chronic absenteeism data, and no state testing results for the grades it actually teaches. The only standardized test data on file comes from a third-grade administration in the 2010–11 school year, when a group of students took the Missouri Assessment Program. In that single snapshot, performance in English language arts was higher than in math, with a moderate share of students reaching proficiency in reading and a very low share in math. That data is over fifteen years old, it tests a grade the school no longer serves, and no more recent state assessment results are available. A parent looking for current academic performance will need to ask the school directly about its own benchmarks, progress monitoring, and readiness measures used for prekindergarten through second grade.
The school sits within the St. Louis City school district, and when compared with other districts in the city, Stix’s overall proficiency index—derived from that dated third-grade test—places it above the midpoint of the cohort. That comparison is thin, however, and should be read with caution given how little contemporary evidence it rests on.
The community and housing context matters for families considering this school. St. Louis is an independent city with a diverse economy anchored by the service, manufacturing, trade, transportation, and aviation sectors, along with major employers like the Federal Reserve Bank, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Research universities including Washington University, Saint Louis University, and the University of Missouri–St. Louis are major presences. Civic and cultural anchors such as Forest Park, the Saint Louis Zoo, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Saint Louis Art Museum are part of the city’s fabric. The city’s boundaries have been fixed since its separation from St. Louis County, and its population has shifted over time, reflecting a long urban history.
Housing values and rents in the zip code around the school are lower than national medians, consistent with an urban school that draws from a low-income catchment area. Affordability measures indicate that for a household earning the national median income, renting is less expensive than buying, and the overall cost of shelter in the area is below the national average. Families considering Stix will find a range of older urban neighborhoods with a mix of housing stock, but the school’s location in the Tower Grove area places it near some of the city’s best-known parks and institutions.
The district brief turned up no parent-relevant changes recently reported for St. Louis City schools, so there is no announced program overhaul, boundary adjustment, or leadership transition to factor in. A family considering Stix should therefore focus on the school’s own early-childhood program, teaching approach, and support services. The school’s website, which was listed in the directory, would be the first place to look for details on curriculum, family engagement, wraparound supports, and prekindergarten enrollment.
Stix Early Childhood Center is a small, high-poverty early-elementary school in an urban district. It fits a family that values a neighborhood school setting for the youngest grades, with the understanding that the school will likely feed into other elementary buildings for third grade and beyond. The lack of recent academic data means that a parent’s most useful next step is to visit, talk to staff, and see how the school prepares its very young students for the later grades.
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