Cole Elem., St Louis MO - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Cole Elem.

COLE ELEM. sits in the city of St. Louis, an independent city with its own school district, St. Louis City. The school serves children from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, so it covers the full elementary and middle school span. Families looking at this school will find a small building with a student body that is almost entirely Black, and every single student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker of concentrated poverty.

State testing data from the Missouri Assessment Program shows that academic performance is low. In math, the proportion of students reaching proficiency was in the single digits across every tested grade where a figure could be reported, and many grade-level results were suppressed, likely because the number of students tested was very small. Reading and English language arts results followed a similar pattern, with the share of students meeting the state bar in the single digits for grades four, five, six, and eight, and just above that range for seventh graders. Science results were also low. When the school is compared with other schools in the twenty or so districts across St. Louis city, its overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quarter of that group. Because the school stops at eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to consider.

The data does not provide information on special education identification rates, English learner support, or discipline incidents, so a parent may want to ask the school office directly about those areas. There is no mention of advanced coursework, magnet themes, or after-school programs in the available materials.

St. Louis itself is a city with a mix of residential neighborhoods and commercial districts, anchored by employers such as Barnes-Jewish Hospital, the Federal Reserve Bank, and major universities. Housing in the area around the school is priced at a level near the national median for home values, and rents are moderate relative to local incomes. The district has not reported any significant recent changes that would affect day-to-day family experience, such as boundary shifts or program consolidations.

For a family deciding whether this school fits, the picture is straightforward. COLE ELEM. is a neighborhood school serving a high-poverty population, and its academic outcomes, as measured by state tests, are well below typical levels. The school does offer a continuous K-8 pathway, which can be appealing for stability. But given the test results, a parent would want to learn about what academic interventions, tutoring, or enrichment are available, and whether the school has seen any improvement trajectory in recent years. Those specifics are not in the data, so visiting and asking the principal would be the next step.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 310%

School 10% · District 17% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 78%

School 8% · District 16% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 45%

School 5% · District 19% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 55%

School 5% · District 21% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 610%

School 10% · District 18% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 713%

School 13% · District 19% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 812%

School 12% · District 19% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Science

Grade 55%

School 5% · District 18% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 812%

School 12% · District 15% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

This schoolST. LOUIS CITY, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.