Summary:
De Soto has three middle schools—Mill Creek, Monticello Trails and Lexington Trails—all serving grades 6–8. Across the schools, average proficiency is about 63% in English language arts (ELA), 62% in math and 64% in science, compared with state rates of about 46%, 41% and 38%, respectively. Results vary among schools, but the most important finding is that all three are above the state proficiency rate in all three subjects.
Lexington Trails leads in ELA (66%) and science (71%), while Monticello Trails leads in math (66%); Mill Creek has the lowest results in each subject. The gap between the top and bottom school is about 8 points in ELA, 11 in math and 13 in science. Lexington’s science result is 7 points above Monticello’s, while Monticello’s math result is 1 point above Lexington’s. The schools’ profiles also differ: Lexington has the highest reported free/reduced-lunch rate, about 32%, and the lowest student-teacher ratio, 12.4, compared with about 13% and 14.3 at Monticello and about 13% and 13.3 at Mill Creek. These are differences among schools, not explanations for their results.
Average proficiency rose from the prior year in all three subjects: about 6 points in ELA, 3 in math and 7 in science. Mill Creek and Monticello improved in all three; Lexington edged down in ELA and math but gained 2 points in science. SchoolDigger’s latest overall rankings are 16 of 368 for Monticello, 17 of 368 for Lexington and 39 of 368 for Mill Creek; Lexington’s rank was 10 of 362 two years earlier, so its current high test results do not mean its ranking has improved. Lexington also reports higher chronic absenteeism—13%, versus 9% at each of the other schools—another distinct factor for families to consider alongside academic results.
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