The top reported proficiency rate is 34% in Science. The lowest is 24% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Grove Upper Es
Grove Upper Elementary serves a modestly sized student population in fourth through sixth grades within the Grove Public Schools district. The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial American Indian or Alaska Native presence and smaller shares of students identifying as two or more races, Hispanic, Black, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. The school anchors the middle tier of a grade-banded system: children move from the early childhood center to lower elementary, then to this building, and on to a separate middle school and high school. No data on free or reduced-price meal eligibility, special education, or English learner status was available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about how it supports students with diverse learning needs.
Academically, Grove Upper Elementary faces clear challenges in math and reading proficiency as measured by Oklahoma’s state assessments. In fourth-grade math, a share of students scored proficient or above that was slightly higher than the school’s fifth- and sixth-grade math results. In English language arts, the pattern was similar, with fourth graders showing a somewhat higher proficiency share than fifth graders, and sixth graders at the lowest level. Science results for fifth graders, the only tested grade in that subject, showed a share of students at proficiency that was modestly better than the school’s grade-level math and ELA outcomes. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school’s combined proficiency index placed it in the top quartile of schools within Delaware County, meaning that while the numbers are modest in absolute terms, the school outperforms most of its immediate county peers. Oklahoma changed its cut scores for math and ELA in this testing cycle, which makes direct comparison with prior years unreliable, so longer-term trends cannot be read from a single year’s results.
Grove, the town, is built around Grand Lake o’ the Cherokees. It is a mix of year-round residential living and seasonal tourism. The population has grown, and the city has invested in lakefront amenities intended to draw national fishing tournaments. Housing in the area, as measured by the Zillow Home Value Index, exceeds the statewide median but sits below the national benchmark. The local economy depends heavily on tourism, hospitality, the Grand Lake Casino, and public-sector employers including the school district. For families, this means a small-town lake setting with a slower pace outside summer months but limited walkability and a car-dependent layout. The school complex sits east of downtown, separate from the Main Street commercial corridor.
The district appears stable, with no recent major policy or boundary changes identified in publicly available sources. A parent considering this school should weigh the community’s attractive lake lifestyle and housing costs below the national average against the school’s academic performance, which, though ranking well among county peers, shows a majority of students below proficiency in all tested subjects and grades. Finding out how the school addresses literacy and math gaps, particularly as students move from fourth to sixth grade, would be a natural next step.
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