Summary:
The 65542 zip code is home to a single high school, Licking High, which serves students in the Licking R-VIII school district. While Licking High has seen fluctuations in its statewide ranking, it faces several challenges, including below-average academic performance, high poverty levels, and a concerning chronic absenteeism rate.
Licking High's statewide ranking has ranged from 154 out of 378 Missouri high schools in 2023-2024 to 296 out of 367 in 2024-2025, indicating inconsistent performance. The school's 4-year graduation rate of 92.9% is above the state average, but its student performance on standardized tests, such as MAP assessments, is consistently below state averages across multiple subjects and grade levels. For example, in 2024-2025, only 23% of 7th-grade students at Licking High were proficient or better in Mathematics, compared to the state average of 43.2%.
Licking High also faces significant socioeconomic challenges, with 100.25% of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a very high poverty rate. Additionally, the school has a high chronic absenteeism rate of 17.4%, which can be a significant barrier to student learning and achievement. While the school's student-to-teacher ratio of 13.7 is slightly lower than the state average, its per-student spending of $10,259 may suggest limited resources to invest in programs and initiatives that could improve student outcomes.
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