The top reported proficiency rate is 10% in Science. The lowest is 9% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Washington Montessori
Washington Montessori is a regular public school in St. Louis serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, and the name says everything about the classroom approach. The school is a Montessori program within the St. Louis City district, meaning children work at their own pace, often in mixed-age groups, with an emphasis on hands-on learning and student choice. For a parent seeking that specific pedagogy, the school offers it at no cost in a public school setting, and that is the school’s defining feature.
The student body is overwhelmingly Black, and every single student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. That is a notable concentration of economic need, and it sets a clear peer context. The school is a regular public school, not a charter, and not a magnet. The enrollment is moderate for an elementary school, with the largest single grade being pre-kindergarten, which suggests the school acts as an early childhood hub for the surrounding neighborhood.
On state assessments, the academic results are low. In math, proficiency rates decline across the tested grades, and in reading and science the same pattern holds, with the fifth-grade reading proficiency rate particularly low. Overall proficiency on the Missouri MAP tests places the school in the bottom quartile among elementary schools within St. Louis city school districts. Families considering Washington Montessori for strong test-score outcomes will want to look into this further with the school to understand how the Montessori method translates into the state testing environment and what academic supports are in place.
Because the school stops at fifth grade, there is no high school graduation rate to report. The district brief for St. Louis City did not surface any parent-relevant changes from the recent period that met the bar for lasting impact, so that section is left out rather than guessed.
St. Louis itself is an independent city with a broad economy that includes major employers like the Federal Reserve Bank, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, as well as research universities such as Washington University and Saint Louis University. The city has deep civic and cultural institutions, including Forest Park, the zoo, and the art museum. That is the broad context for the school, though housing data is more local.
The housing market around the school is notably affordable. Home values sit well below state and national benchmarks, and rents are modest relative to incomes. The area has seen a decline in home values recently, which may reflect the broader economic pressures in this part of the city. For a family priced out of higher-cost neighborhoods, this is a neighborhood where a mortgage or rent is within reach, but affordability here also tracks with the high poverty concentration seen in the school.
A family considering Washington Montessori should weigh the pedagogical fit against the academic achievement picture. If the Montessori method is the priority and the family is comfortable with a school where most students are well below grade-level benchmarks, the school may work well. If strong state test scores are the primary concern, the data points to a different fit. The school is a specific choice for a specific reason, and the data makes that trade-off clear.
See more original research from School Decision →