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How has R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
578
Middle
DISTRICT 551 · STATE 461
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·RIVERVIEW GARDENS·NCES 292667002539
R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE
9800 PATRICIA BARKALOW DR, ST LOUIS, MO 63137 · (314) 867-2603 · St. Louis County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL578 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
13.9:1
42 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.2:1 · STATE 13.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
64%
369 students
DISTRICT 61% · STATE 54%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE→RIVERVIEW GARDENS SR. HIGH
Based on grade levels within RIVERVIEW GARDENS. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
MO DVT (Growth) 2024-25 . Growth Percentile vs PeersEnglish Language Arts
68.5%
MO avg 49.5% . +6.1pp since 2023
Math
64.0%
MO avg 48.7% . +37.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the MO DVT (Growth), Missouri's statewide test, about 69 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 64 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Missouri schools, those numbers are about 50 and 49. Reading and writing scores are up about 6 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 37 points.
Source: MO DVT (Growth). 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
58.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
50.1%
based on MO schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+8.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 58% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 50% 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 →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
578
-96 (-14%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
13.9:1
was 15.3:1
% White
1%
was 1%
% Hispanic
1%
was 0%
% Black
97%
was 99%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE
R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE, a moderately sized middle school in ST LOUIS, Missouri, overseen by RIVERVIEW GARDENS, hosts 578 students, covering grades 6 through 8. That puts it 25% bigger than the typical public school in Missouri, which averages around 461 students.
Within RIVERVIEW GARDENS, which oversees 13 schools and 5,116 students, R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE is one campus in the system.
On demographics, R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE logs that 97% of students identify as Black, making the school strongly Black-majority. That is noticeably more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 24%.
On the income-and-resources front, The school reports having 42 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 13.9:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.0:1, putting R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE higher than the state norm the norm. About 64% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is noticeably above St. Louis County's rate of about 43%.
After controlling for student poverty, R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 50.1%; this one delivers 58.3%.
Zooming out to the county, the surrounding county (St. Louis County) shows that median household earnings sit near $82,936, about 47% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. Across St. Louis County's 275 public schools (combined enrollment of about 134,601 students), R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE is one campus in the mix.
GIBSON ELEM. is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE at 3rd of 7; the average score across the group is 54.5%.
The school occupies a bedroom-community site.
Five-year trend. R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE's enrollment has contracted 14% since 2018, when it stood at 674 (now 578). Class-load math has narrowed: from 15.3:1 in 2018 to 13.9:1 in 2025.
On allk12, recent activity here tends to focus on open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
St. Louis County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
995,569
Census ACS
Median income
$82,936
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
47%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
275
134,601 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in RIVERVIEW GARDENS
- RIVERVIEW GARDENS SR. HIGHHigh · 1,246 students
- Westview Middle SchoolMiddle · 524 students
- GIBSON ELEM.Elementary · 387 students
- MEADOWS ELEM.Elementary · 321 students
- LEMASTERS ELEM.Elementary · 301 students
- KOCH ELEM.Elementary · 299 students
Other schools in ST LOUIS
- RITENOUR SR. HIGHHigh · 2,041 students
- OAKVILLE SR. HIGHHigh · 1,847 students
- LADUE HORTON WATKINS HIGHHigh · 1,395 students
- MEHLVILLE HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,388 students
- HAZELWOOD EAST HIGHHigh · 1,310 students
- WEBSTER GROVES HIGHHigh · 1,253 students
Nearby schools
- GIBSON ELEM.0.4 mi · 387
- MEADOWS ELEM.0.7 mi · 321
- EARLY CHILD. EDUCATION0.8 mi · 248
- LEWIS AND CLARK ELEM.0.8 mi · 137
- DANFORTH ELEM.0.8 mi · 274
- Westview Middle School1.4 mi · 524
Frequently asked questions
About R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLEWhat is the total enrollment at R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE?
R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE enrolls approximately 578 students in grades 06-08.
Is R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE an elementary, middle, or high school?
R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
How many teachers does R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE have?
R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE employs 42 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.9:1.
What is the student diversity at R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE?
Student demographics at R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE are roughly 1% White, 1% Hispanic, 97% Black, 0% Asian.
What district is R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE in?
R. G. CENTRAL MIDDLE is part of RIVERVIEW GARDENS.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.