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What are the Best High Schools in St. Louis?

by Karen Goodman on December 10, 2009

St. Louis high school students Real estate agents here this question a lot.

Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy answer. There are so many factors you could consider when comparing high school performance.

College admission test scores (ACT or SAT)
Standardized testing scores (MAP testing in Missouri)
Graduation rate
Dropout rate
Class size
Teacher years of experience or education level
How many graduates go to 4 yr colleges
Discipline issues

The list goes on and on. Plus, having a school that does wonders with gifted children may not be the right choice if your child has a learning disability.

Of course, you could simply go to one of those ranking websites which will plug school data into a formula and spit out a ranking order. These sites will give you a simple answer to your question. But how do you know if the factors that they use to rank the schools are the same factors that you think are important?

St. Louis Region High School Statistics:

The Missouri Department of Education provides a wealth of information online which will allow you to decide for yourself how Missouri schools compare to each other.

I have put together charts for most of the St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County public high schools so you can make an educated decision for yourself on which high school is best for your child.

My goal is to give you a snapshot of how the schools are performing by giving you:

standardized testing results (MAP testing & average ACT scores)
how many students graduate
how many graduates go to 4 yr colleges, 2 yr colleges or vocational school
how many students are low-income (% of students eligible for free or reduced school lunches)

I include low-income percentage because that gives you a clue on how expensive the housing in a school district will be. It also helps answer the question about safety that relocating buyers often want to know.

Plus, there are wide differences in the quality of education in the poorest parts of town. I hope that the charts will help families with limited income to identify the best schools in the areas where they can afford to live.

All of the information in the charts above were pulled from the Missouri Department of Education website. You can find additional information including student and census demographics, teacher background, financial information, discipline incidents and more.

In addition, the same information is available on the state website so you can decide for yourself what are the best elementary and middle schools in St. Louis.

Once you identify a few school districts of interest, find out the average cost of homes in the area by visiting my city and zip code housing market reports.

Relocating to the St. Louis region?

If you are moving to the St. Louis area, you will want to search for homes by high school rather than by city or zip code. Contact me and I can set up a personalized home search for you which will email you listings in the high school boundaries that you select.

When you are ready to come to St. Louis for a house hunting trip, I’ll work with you to make sure that you choose a home in the area that best meets your housing and school preferences, limits your work commute and fits into your budget.

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