KENNETT MIDDLE

As a middle-of-the-pack middle-grades school in KENNETT, Missouri, KENNETT MIDDLE enrolls 392 students from grades 6 through 8, part of KENNETT 39.

Across the 5 schools in KENNETT 39 (1,807 students total), KENNETT MIDDLE accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

For racial and ethnic makeup, KENNETT MIDDLE reports that the most-represented group is White (54%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups; the rest comes out to 33% Black, 10% Hispanic, 2% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 76% White, putting the school's mix visibly less White than the area baseline.

On the resource side, KENNETT MIDDLE records 30 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 12.9:1. That tracks the state average closely. About 100% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, KENNETT MIDDLE performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 49.4%, the actual is 35.9%, a residual of -13.5 points.

Around the school, the surrounding county (Dunklin County) logs that the typical household earns roughly $47,849 per year, about 13% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 16%. In all, Dunklin County runs 21 public schools (combined enrollment of about 4,864 students), of which KENNETT MIDDLE is one.

The closest other public school is KENNETT HIGH, roughly 0.9 miles away. Within five miles, there are 4 other public schools. On composite proficiency, KENNETT MIDDLE comes 6th of 7 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 54.1%.

KENNETT MIDDLE operates from a small-town location.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 14%: 458 students in 2018 compared to 392 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share shrank from 63% to 54%. Class-load math has tightened: from 15.5:1 in 2018 to 12.9:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.