The top reported proficiency rate is 34% in English language arts. The lowest is 29% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Black Hawk Middle
Black Hawk Middle serves grades six through eight in Warrenton, a St. Louis exurb that sits along the Interstate 70 corridor. The school is a regular public middle school within the Warren County R‑III district, and it is not a charter or magnet. Warrenton itself is one of the fastest‑growing communities in Missouri, blending a traditional Main Street downtown with highway‑oriented commercial strips, light industry, and residential neighborhoods. The city describes its character as maintaining a small‑town atmosphere while absorbing suburban spillover, and voters in the district recently approved a bond issue for facility and infrastructure improvements after a nearly identical measure had narrowly failed. The district has also seen a state‑mandated property reassessment that increased residential values, alongside a projected operational fund surplus for the first back‑to‑back years in roughly a decade. For a parent, this context matters: the town is growing, school facilities have been getting attention, and the district’s finances have stabilized after a period of deficit spending.
On state assessments, Black Hawk Middle’s proficiency results across math, English language arts, and science fall below the midpoint when placed relative to other districts in Warren County. Because the county contains only two districts, this comparison is a narrow one, but it still gives a frame. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above is lower than in English language arts and science, and the pattern is fairly consistent across grades six, seven, and eight. In ELA, roughly a third of students at each grade level meet the state’s proficiency standard; in science at grade eight, the proportion is similar. These are not strong overall results, and a parent may want to ask the school about its approach to core instruction and how it supports students who are not yet meeting grade‑level expectations. The data does not include information on how different student groups perform, so that is a gap a parent would need to explore directly.
The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of students who are Hispanic, Black, or identify as two or more races. About half of students qualify for free or reduced‑price lunch, indicating a substantial low‑income population. Information on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the data, so it is unclear what share of students receive special education or language support services. The school is a regular public school with no special designation, and no program offerings were reported.
Warrenton’s housing market is mixed. Home values and rents are near the national median, and the city’s rapid growth has brought new park infrastructure, including walking trails and an indoor pool, to accommodate families. The district’s financial improvement—surplus budgets and a move to place all staff on the correct salary step for the first time in over a decade—may affect teacher retention and program stability, but the direct impact on Black Hawk Middle is not detailed in the available data.
A parent considering Black Hawk Middle will find a school set in a growing exurb where the district has recently made financial and facility strides. Academically, the school’s performance on state tests is soft compared with the only other district in the county, and a closer look at how the school addresses literacy and math gaps would be worthwhile. The lack of data on special populations and course access means that some important questions about student support cannot be answered from this profile alone. For families who value a small‑town environment with access to the St. Louis region and who are comfortable engaging with the school about its instructional strategies, Black Hawk Middle is worth a direct conversation.
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