Charleston High

Charleston High is a public high school in Charleston, Missouri, serving grades 7-12 with a total enrollment of 331 students. The school is part of the Charleston R-I school district. Unfortunately, Charleston High has consistently ranked in the bottom half of Missouri high schools over the past several years, with a current ranking of 343 out of 367 high schools in the state for the 2024-2025 school year.

The school faces significant challenges in academic performance, with proficiency rates on MAP tests ranging from just 5.7% in Biology I to 22.7% in 7th grade Mathematics, compared to state averages of 37.3% and 43.2%, respectively. Charleston High's graduation rate, which has fluctuated between 86.1% and 89.8% in recent years, is slightly below the state average, and the school's dropout rate, ranging from 2.2% to 3.4%, is higher than the state average. Additionally, Charleston High has consistently high rates of chronic absenteeism, ranging from 25.1% to 27.9%, significantly higher than the state average.

While the nearby schools, such as Scott County Central High, Sikeston Senior High School, and Thomas W. Kelly High, generally perform better than Charleston High across various metrics, they also serve student populations with high percentages of free and reduced-price lunch recipients, indicating that the economic challenges faced by Charleston High are not unique to the school. The school district is allocating resources to support Charleston High, with per-student spending increasing over the years, but the academic and other outcomes remain poor, suggesting the need for a more comprehensive and targeted approach to address the underlying issues and improve student success.