The top reported proficiency rate is 19% in English language arts. The lowest is 4% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Bryan Hill Elem.
Bryan Hill Elementary, a regular public school in the St. Louis City district, serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. The school’s enrollment is small and nearly every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker of the high level of economic need in the surrounding community. St. Louis is an independent city with a diverse economy anchored by major employers in finance, health care, and higher education, as well as prominent civic and cultural institutions. The neighborhood around the school, located in the northern part of the city, sits within a city that has experienced significant population shifts over time.
The student body is overwhelmingly Black, with a very small number of students identified as Asian, Hispanic, white, or of two or more races. Data on the share of students with disabilities and the share of English learners was not available from the state. The school day and grade configuration reflect a standard elementary program, with no magnet or charter designation.
On the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP), the state’s standardized tests, the academic results are low across the board. For the most recent testing year, third-grade proficiency rates in both math and English language arts were suppressed by the state, so no result is available for that grade. Fourth-grade English language arts proficiency was reported at a low level, while fourth-grade math results were also suppressed. In fifth grade, the proficiency rate in math was low, in English language arts it was somewhat higher than in other grades but still low, and in science it was very low. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages performance across tested subjects and grades, fell in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in St. Louis city. A parent meeting with the school to understand how instruction and support are structured for these early grades may be helpful.
The school’s enrollment is small even for an elementary, with a pre-kindergarten program that makes up a notable share of the total student count. The school operates within the St. Louis City district, which oversees dozens of schools across the city. Housing in the area is affordable relative to national and state benchmarks, with a typical home value well below the state median. Rents are also relatively low, and the local housing market has seen a decline in values over the past year. For a family considering the area, this points to a community with significant economic challenges and low housing costs.
The district brief did not turn up any recent major changes, such as a bond issue, a boundary shift, or a new strategic plan, that would be directly relevant to a parent choosing this school. The school itself does not appear to have publicly reported data on discipline rates, chronic absenteeism, or teacher staffing ratios, so these are areas a prospective family would want to ask about directly.
Bryan Hill Elementary is a high-poverty, low-proficiency school in a large urban district. It fits a family that lives in the immediate neighborhood and is comfortable with a traditional public school where economic need is near universal, test scores are well below state averages in the grades where results are available, and the path to middle and high school will require transitioning to another school in the district. Families weighing academic preparation and peer environment will want to explore what additional academic supports and programming the school offers, and how the school’s fifth graders transition to the middle school in their attendance area.
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