The Light Bearer

How Black students are performing in Missouri schools

In Missouri, 20.7% of Black students are proficient in math at the typical school — against 50.5% of White students. Within St. Louis City alone, the gap between the best and worst schools for Black children is 78 points. This tool helps you find the right one.

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36.7%
All students
22.1%
Black
33.4%
Hispanic
51.3%
White
65.4%
Asian

Share of students meeting proficient or advanced at the typical Missouri school. Groups are shown wherever Missouri reports them; a group is omitted from a school when too few students were tested to report safely.

These figures come from DESE MAP 2025, measuring proficient or advanced in All Subjects · Grades 3–11. Across 104 districts, 700 Missouri schools report enough results to be included.

At the typical Missouri school the picture is black students at 22.1%, hispanic students at 33.4%, white students at 51.3% and asian students at 65.4%. That is a 43.3-point spread between the highest and lowest group, inside the same schools, the same districts and the same state — which is what this tool exists to make visible.

What the Missouri data shows

Landscape
0

Missouri schools earn an A for Black students

An A means 80% or more of Black students score Proficient or Advanced. Of 584 schools with at least 25 Black student results, not one reaches that bar. The highest in the state is 79.9%.

Disparity
77.7 pts

gap between the best and worst schools for Black students in St. Louis City

Metro High has 79.9% of its Black students proficient. Long Middle Community Ed. Ctr., in the same district, has 2.2%. Across 56 schools in one district, a child's address decides which end they land on.

Opportunity
9

schools where 60%+ of Black students are proficient

Steam Academy Middle School in Ferguson-Florissant reaches 62.4% with 157 Black student results — the strongest result in the state at real scale, in a district often written off. These schools are proof the ceiling is not fixed.

Where Black students are doing best in Missouri

These are the schools where Black students most often meet proficient or advanced, among those with at least 25 Black student results reported. Every group's result is shown alongside, because a school that serves one group well and another poorly is telling you something too.

SchoolAllBlackHispanicWhiteAsian
Metro High SchoolSt. Louis City Magnet 93.6% 79.9% 94.3%
Collegiate School Of Med/bioSt. Louis City Magnet 85.9% 77.4% 95.7%
Franklin Smith ElementaryBlue Springs R-iv 70.1% 74% 66.5% 70.1%
Mallinckrodt A.b.i. ElementarySt. Louis City Magnet 91% 73% 95.5%
Betty Wheeler Classical Junior AcSt. Louis City Magnet 87.6% 71.4% 94.9%
Chapel Lakes ElementaryBlue Springs R-iv 75.8% 69.9% 78.4%
James Walker ElementaryBlue Springs R-iv 79% 69.1% 83.2% 81.4%
Ft. Zumwalt North High SchoolFort Zumwalt School District 69.4% 62.5% 72.2%
Steam Academy Middle SchoolFerguson-florissant R-ii 69.1% 62.4% 93.7% 78%
Cherokee Middle SchoolSpringfield R-xii 69% 58% 70.1% 70.9% 61.8%

Flags show magnet, charter, alternative and virtual schools. Some campuses — early college and specialized academies among them — also admit by application, and this page cannot yet identify all of them. Check with the district before assuming a school is open to your address.

Where Black students are struggling most

The same measure at the other end of the range. In many of these schools every group is falling short, which points at the school rather than at the students in it.

SchoolAllBlackHispanicWhiteAsian
Long Middle Community Education CenterSt. Louis City 5.1% 2.2% 2.3% 25.6% 16.8%
Johnson Wabash 6th Grade CenterFerguson-florissant R-ii 2.4% 2.4% 5.3%
Primitivo Garcia ElementaryKansas City 33 8.2% 3.2% 5.9%
Yeatman-liddell Middle SchoolSt. Louis City 3.4% 3.3%
Highland ElementaryRiverview Gardens 4.4% 3.6%
Hickey ElementarySt. Louis City 3.7% 3.8%
Froebel ElementarySt. Louis City 3.9% 4%
Stonegate ElementaryRaymore-peculiar R-ii 34.4% 4.3% 50.5%
Columbia Elementary Comm. Education CenterSt. Louis City 4.3% 4.3%
Henry ElementarySt. Louis City 8% 4.4%

One district, two outcomes

In St. Louis City, Metro High School reports 79.9% of Black students meeting the standard. Long Middle Community Education Center, in the same district, reports 2.2%. That is a 77.7-point spread across 56 schools under one administration, serving one community, funded by one tax base — the clearest illustration of why address matters more than it should.

Missouri districts

Districts with at least ten schools reporting Black student results, by school count. The percentage shown is the average across that district's schools for Black students.

St. Louis City — 56 schools, 15% average
Hazelwood — 28 schools, 19.4% average
Kansas City 33 — 27 schools, 18.2% average
Columbia 93 — 26 schools, 16.6% average
North Kansas City 74 — 22 schools, 32.1% average
Lee's Summit R-vii — 17 schools, 26.7% average
Independence 30 — 15 schools, 20.4% average
Ferguson-florissant R-ii — 15 schools, 18% average
Raytown C-2 — 15 schools, 17.6% average
Francis Howell R-iii — 13 schools, 39.4% average
Parkway C-2 — 13 schools, 27% average
Springfield R-xii — 13 schools, 24.4% average
Park Hill — 12 schools, 29.8% average
Blue Springs R-iv — 12 schools, 44.1% average
Riverview Gardens — 12 schools, 8.6% average
Wentzville R-iv — 11 schools, 31% average
Fort Zumwalt School District — 11 schools, 40.3% average
Hickman Mills C-1 — 10 schools, 19.3% average
Rockwood R-vi — 10 schools, 21.2% average
Pattonville R-iii — 9 schools, 28.3% average
Ritenour — 9 schools, 17.9% average
Jefferson City — 9 schools, 28.1% average
Mehlville R-ix — 7 schools, 26.8% average
Grandview C-4 — 7 schools, 23.6% average
Liberty 53 — 7 schools, 18.7% average
Raymore-peculiar R-ii — 7 schools, 19.6% average
Jennings — 7 schools, 20.7% average
Normandy Schools Collaborative — 6 schools, 10.7% average
University City — 6 schools, 23.5% average
Center 58 — 6 schools, 15.9% average
Cape Girardeau 63 — 6 schools, 21.3% average
Kipp St Louis Public Schools — 6 schools, 11.6% average
Sikeston R-6 — 6 schools, 19.1% average
Platte Co. R-iii — 5 schools, 38.4% average
Confluence Academies — 5 schools, 13.1% average
St. Charles R-vi — 5 schools, 36.5% average
Kirkwood R-vii — 5 schools, 21.2% average
Belton 124 — 4 schools, 26.1% average
New Madrid Co. R-i — 4 schools, 11.4% average
Waynesville R-vi — 4 schools, 28.6% average
How these averages are calculated. The figures above average across Missouri schools, giving each school equal weight. They describe the typical school, not the state's tested population, and will differ from the headline figure DESE MAP 2025 publishes — that one weights every student equally, so larger schools count for more. Use the state's own published figure when citing a statewide number.

How to read the school data. DESE suppresses results for groups with too few students tested. Schools without a reportable Black student result are excluded rather than shown as zero — 700 of Missouri's schools have reportable data. This ranking reflects the 2025 Missouri Assessment Program administration. DESE publishes updated results annually. Rankings will be refreshed each year as new data becomes available. Because every state sets its own proficiency standard, Missouri's figures should not be compared directly against another state's.

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