The top reported proficiency rate is 41% in Math. The lowest is 34% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Emerson Es
Emerson Elementary School in McAlester, Oklahoma, holds a clear and straightforward status: it is closed. The state directory lists its operational status as closed, meaning this school is no longer admitting students. A parent or resident looking at Emerson will find a building on East Van Buren Avenue that once served as a neighborhood elementary, but it is not an active school choice.
Because Emerson is closed, the data that typically describes a functioning school is largely absent. There is no current enrollment figure, no demographic profile of a student body, no information on special education or English learner populations, and no discipline or staffing data. The school did not serve high school grades, so there was never a graduation rate to report. In its final years, what data is available comes from the state’s standardized testing program for the school year ending in 2023, and that testing snapshot gives a picture of academic performance before the school ceased operations.
In that last testing year, Emerson served grades that did take the Oklahoma School Testing Program (OSTP) assessments. In third-grade math, about half of students scored at the proficient level or above. In fourth-grade math, the share dropped to roughly one in three. On the English language arts side, third graders showed a proficiency rate slightly below the half mark, while fourth graders had a notably lower outcome, with roughly one in four students scoring proficient or better. A parent considering this school in its final years would have seen an academic profile where upper elementary reading results were a soft spot, and the fourth-grade year in both subjects showed the weakest performance. These results are state-level assessment data for the last year the school was active, and they represent a static snapshot from a school that is now closed.
The community context around the former school is McAlester, a city that has served as a trade and employment hub in southeastern Oklahoma. Its economy has long been anchored by the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, and Pittsburg County government. The city sits at the intersection of major highways and a historic rail corridor, giving it a connected but auto-oriented feel. Housing values in the immediate area have risen moderately in recent years, and remain below state and national benchmarks, reflecting a lower cost of entry compared to many parts of Oklahoma. McAlester’s population has been slowly declining, with no major new housing developments publicly reported, and revitalization efforts have focused on downtown and Old Town preservation rather than expansion. For a family, this is a stable, long-established town with a history of institutional employment and a modest housing market.
Because Emerson is closed, the only actionable information for a family reading this is that the school is not an option. A parent with an elementary-age child in McAlester will need to look at other schools within the McAlester district or consider alternatives in the area. The district’s other elementary schools, Middle School, and High School carry the current enrollment and programming information that Emerson no longer offers. The district brief showed no major recent changes or initiatives that were publicly reported, so a parent may want to contact the district directly to learn about current school assignments, open enrollment options, or any programming updates across the remaining campuses. For all practical purposes, Emerson Elementary sits in the city’s past, and a family’s search for a school in this part of McAlester begins with the district’s other elementary buildings.
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