Summary:
The Clinton County R-III school district in Missouri has only one elementary school, Ellis Elementary, which serves grades PK-5 with an enrollment of 360 students. While the school has a relatively small student-teacher ratio of 12.1, its academic performance has been declining in recent years, with a drop in its statewide ranking from 514 out of 898 Missouri elementary schools in 2022-2023 to 659 out of 900 in 2024-2025, earning a 2-star rating.
Ellis Elementary's test scores in Mathematics and English Language Arts for grades 3-5 are consistently lower than the state averages for Missouri. For example, in 2024-2025, only 23.9% of 3rd graders at Ellis Elementary were proficient or better in Mathematics, compared to the state average of 41.4%. Additionally, the school has a relatively high chronic absenteeism rate of 11.0% in 2023-2024, which is higher than the state average. These academic challenges may be exacerbated by the fact that 41.39% of Ellis Elementary's students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in 2023-2024, indicating a significant level of economic disadvantage among the student population.
Despite the higher spending per student at Ellis Elementary, which was $13,707 in 2021-2022, the school's academic performance remains below the state average. This suggests that simply spending more money may not be the sole solution to improving student outcomes. The school's small class sizes could be a positive factor, but they do not appear to be enough to overcome the other challenges the school is facing. Further investigation and targeted interventions may be necessary to address the root causes of Ellis Elementary's underperformance and help the school improve its academic outcomes.
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