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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at JOHN WELDON ELEM.?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
640
Elementary
DISTRICT 600 · STATE 315
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FRANCIS HOWELL R-III·NCES 292895002666
JOHN WELDON ELEM.
7370 WELDON SPRING RD, DARDENNE PRAIRIE, MO 63368 · (636) 851-5500 · St. Charles County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL640 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 79% of Missouri public elementary schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- C-Three-year trend Change in reading and math proficiency over the last three test years.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Missouri public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
13.2:1
49 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.0:1 · STATE 12.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
9%
58 students
DISTRICT 16% · STATE 54%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 17 | 3% |
| Kindergarten | 98 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 93 | 15% |
| Grade 2 | 110 | 17% |
| Grade 3 | 115 | 18% |
| Grade 4 | 99 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 108 | 17% |
This year's kindergarten class (98) is 9% smaller than its 5th grade class (108).
Student demographics
44%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 44% · STATE 52% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
MAP 2024-25 . % Proficient + AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
65.2%
MO avg 44.9% . -5.1pp since 2021
Math
64.8%
MO avg 43.8% . -4.2pp since 2021
What this means: On the MAP, Missouri's statewide test, about 65 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 65 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Missouri schools, those numbers are about 45 and 44. Reading and writing scores are down about 5 points since 2021, while math scores are down about 4 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Advanced | Proficient | Basic | Below Basic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 36.3% | 28.9% | 26.3% | 8.3% |
| Math | 36.9% | 27.9% | 22.8% | 12.2% |
Share of tested students at each MAP level. Each student counts in one level, so a row adds to about 100%.
MAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 65.2% | 64.8% |
| 2023-24 | 69.4% | 62.2% |
| 2022-23 | 70.9% | 72.5% |
| 2021-22 | 70.3% | 69.0% |
% Proficient + Advanced, all students and all tested grades.
Source: MAP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
64.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
56.5%
based on MO schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+7.9pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 64% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 57% typical for Missouri schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Missouri's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like JOHN WELDON ELEM.
JOHN WELDON ELEM.'s state test result (64.4% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| JOHN WELDON ELEM. this school | 640 | 9.1% | 64.4% |
| KEHRS MILL ELEM. CHESTERFIELD | 555 | 3.6% | 75.3% |
| ELLISVILLE ELEM. ELLISVILLE | 474 | 9.3% | 62.8% |
| OAK BROOK ELEM. BALLWIN | 401 | 10.0% | 59.2% |
| MILL CREEK ELEM. COLUMBIA | 583 | 15.3% | 66.6% |
| MASON RIDGE ELEM. TOWN & COUNTRY | 405 | 8.1% | 69.8% |
Matched among Missouri elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where JOHN WELDON ELEM. ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Missouri | In St. Charles County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 64.4% | #87 of 1,002 | #9 of 45 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 64.8% | #106 of 1,019 ▲ 23 | #9 of 45 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 65.2% | #87 of 1,018 ▼ 43 | #9 of 45 ▼ 2 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -4.7pp | #218 of 943 | #8 of 44 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 640 | #48 of 1,294 | #13 of 55 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.2:1 | #532 of 950 | #40 of 51 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 43.9% | #399 of 953 | #29 of 51 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 9.1% | #1,123 of 1,165 | #48 of 55 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -12.6% | #363 of 684 | #21 of 33 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
640
-36 (-5%) vs 2020
-19% since 2000-01, when it was 789
Student : Teacher
13.2:1
was 12.8:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 640 | 48.6 | 13.2:1 | 9% (58) |
| 2023-24 | 656 | 49.5 | 13.3:1 | 9% (62) |
| 2022-23 | 677 | 50.1 | 13.5:1 | 7% (47) |
| 2020-21 | 676 | 53 | 12.8:1 | 9% (62) |
| 2017-18 | 732 | 51.8 | 14.1:1 | 7% (52) |
| 2015-16 | 725 | 53 | 13.7:1 | 7% (54) |
| 2010-11 | 748 | 51 | 14.7:1 | 11% (84) |
| 2000-01 | 789 | 50 | 15.8:1 | 5% (39) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for JOHN WELDON ELEM..
Since 2017-18: students down 13% (732 to 640); teachers down 6% (51.8 to 48.6).
About JOHN WELDON ELEM.
JOHN WELDON ELEM. is a large elementary school in DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Missouri, one of the schools in FRANCIS HOWELL R-III. It teaches 640 students in pre-K through 5. By comparison, elementary schools in Missouri enroll about 315 students on average.
Besides JOHN WELDON ELEM., FRANCIS HOWELL R-III runs 20 other schools. The district enrolls 17,047 students.
More than half of the students at JOHN WELDON ELEM. are White (73%). The next largest groups are 12% Asian, 5% Black, 5% Hispanic, and 4% multiracial. In St. Charles County overall, about 84% of residents are White. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 44%.
Staffing at JOHN WELDON ELEM. comes to 48.6 full-time-equivalent teachers, or 13.2:1. The gap from the 12.4:1 average for elementary schools in Missouri is 0.7 students per teacher. By family income, 9% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Compared with the 19% average for public schools in St. Charles County, the school's rate is lower.
On the allk12 Grade, JOHN WELDON ELEM. lands at A-, ahead of 79% of Missouri public elementary schools.
The allk12 BeatsExpectations score for JOHN WELDON ELEM. is +7.9 points: 64.4% actual, 56.5% predicted.
In St. Charles County, home to about 414,535 people, median household income comes to about $104,692, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 43%, and roughly 4% of residents are in poverty. There are 93 public schools in the county, enrolling about 59,314, JOHN WELDON ELEM. among them.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, FT. ZUWMALT WEST MIDDLE, is about 1.6 miles. Within five miles are at least 8 other public schools. On average proficiency, JOHN WELDON ELEM. is 3rd of 9 nearby schools with test data.
Federal data place JOHN WELDON ELEM. in the Suburb: Large locale, which means it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
The 2020-21-to-2024-25 change in enrollment was a 5% decline, from 676 to 640.
Parents, students, and staff can share information on pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback here. Members of the school community can share what they know.
St. Charles County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
414,535
Census ACS
Median income
$104,692
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
43%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
93
59,314 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in FRANCIS HOWELL R-III
- FRANCIS HOWELL HIGHHigh · 1,843 students
- FRANCIS HOWELL CENTRAL HIGHHigh · 1,750 students
- FRANCIS HOWELL NORTH HIGHHigh · 1,716 students
- FAIRMOUNT ELEM.Elementary · 971 students
- CENTRAL ELEM.Elementary · 865 students
- CASTLIO ELEM.Elementary · 847 students
Nearby schools
- FT. ZUWMALT WEST MIDDLE1.6 mi · 1,114
- FRANCIS HOWELL HIGH1.7 mi · 1,843
- PHEASANT POINT ELEM.2.0 mi · 428
- FRANCIS HOWELL MIDDLE2.4 mi · 799
- OSTMANN ELEM.2.5 mi · 362
- TWIN CHIMNEYS ELEM.2.6 mi · 488
Frequently asked questions
About JOHN WELDON ELEM.How many students attend JOHN WELDON ELEM.?
JOHN WELDON ELEM. enrolls approximately 640 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does JOHN WELDON ELEM. serve?
JOHN WELDON ELEM. serves grades PK-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at JOHN WELDON ELEM.?
The student-to-teacher ratio at JOHN WELDON ELEM. is approximately 13.2:1 (49 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at JOHN WELDON ELEM.?
At JOHN WELDON ELEM., the student body is approximately 73% White, 5% Hispanic, 5% Black, 12% Asian, 4% Two or more.
Is JOHN WELDON ELEM. public or private?
JOHN WELDON ELEM. is a public K-12 school, overseen by FRANCIS HOWELL R-III.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.