Elementary Schools in Joplin Schools

The Joplin Schools district in Missouri is home to 10 diverse elementary schools, ranging in size from 192 students at Jefferson Elementary to 527 students at Irving Elementary. While the district as a whole is ranked 171 out of 386 school districts in Missouri and rated 3 out of 5 stars by SchoolDigger, a few standout schools within the district have shown exceptional performance.

Jefferson Elementary stands out as the highest-ranked school in the district, ranked 217 out of 906 Missouri elementary schools and rated 4 out of 5 stars by SchoolDigger. The school excelled in mathematics, with 54.5% of 3rd graders and 48.3% of 4th graders proficient or better, and had the highest percentage of free/reduced lunch recipients at 75%. Stapleton Elementary also performed well, ranking 410 out of 906 Missouri elementary schools and consistently scoring above the state and district averages, particularly in English Language Arts. Additionally, Irving Elementary showed significant improvement in test scores from 2022-2023 to 2023-2024, outperforming the district and state averages in several areas.

While the district has some high-performing schools, it also faces challenges, such as a consistently high chronic absenteeism rate of 21.8% across all schools and a wide range of free/reduced lunch recipients, from 49.02% at Stapleton Elementary to 81.29% at McKinley Elementary. The district's average spending per student of $9,270 and student-teacher ratio of 12.3 also vary across the schools. To address these disparities and improve the overall performance of the district, the Joplin Schools may need to implement targeted strategies and share best practices from the top-performing schools.