EAST ELEMENTARY

EAST ELEMENTARY, a large K-5 school in JACKSON, Missouri, operated by JACKSON R-II, works with 726 students, covering grades pre-K through 4. That puts it 130% larger than the typical public school in Missouri, which averages around 315 students.

EAST ELEMENTARY is one of 10 schools operated by JACKSON R-II, a district that teaches 5,827 students overall.

In terms of who attends, EAST ELEMENTARY reports that 90% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Beyond that, the school logs 3% multiracial, 3% Hispanic, 3% Asian, 2% Black.

Looking at the economic backdrop, EAST ELEMENTARY reports 48 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 15.1:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 12.4:1, putting EAST ELEMENTARY higher than the state norm the norm. About 31% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Cape Girardeau County runs at roughly 62%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat below the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, EAST ELEMENTARY performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 50.7%, the actual is 44.8%, a residual of -6.0 points.

Zooming out to the county, the surrounding county (Cape Girardeau County) records that the typical household earns roughly $68,464 per year, roughly 33% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. Across Cape Girardeau County's 27 public schools (combined enrollment of about 11,025 students), EAST ELEMENTARY is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is JACKSON SR. HIGH, roughly 1.8 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 7 other public schools cluster around EAST ELEMENTARY. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts EAST ELEMENTARY at 6th of 8; the average score across the group is 49.3%.

The school occupies a residential site.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count changed only slightly: 742 students in 2018 compared to 726 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 17.3:1 in 2018 to 15.1:1 today.

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