CONWAY ELEMENTARY vs REED ELEMENTARY

Conway Elementary and Reed Elementary are two of Missouri's strongest elementary schools, but Conway holds a measurable edge in overall rating — 9.5/10 versus Reed's 8.8/10, a gap of 0.7 points. That gap translates directly in state rankings: Conway Elementary sits at #9 of 2,216 Missouri schools, while Reed Elementary ranks #62 of the same pool. Both results place Reed well above average statewide, but Conway's position in the top 0.5 percent of Missouri elementaries is a distinction few schools in the state can match.

On raw academic proficiency, the two schools are effectively tied: both Conway Elementary and Reed Elementary score 9.9/10, meaning student achievement at grade level is exceptional at either address. The meaningful academic difference is in growth — how much students improve year over year relative to peers starting from the same baseline. Conway Elementary scores 9.7/10 on growth versus Reed Elementary's 8.1/10, a 1.6-point delta. For families who value demonstrated learning acceleration over a school year — not just high entry-level performance — that gap favors Conway.

Both schools serve students in grades KG through 04 and operate with low student-teacher ratios that are competitive even by affluent-suburb standards. Reed Elementary's ratio of 12.4:1 is slightly tighter than Conway Elementary's 13.4:1, meaning Reed averages roughly one fewer student per classroom. Enrollment is comparable — 414 at Conway, 384 at Reed — keeping both schools at a size where individual students remain visible. Free and reduced lunch eligibility is 6 percent at Conway and 8 percent at Reed, indicating both schools serve predominantly higher-income populations with only a minor difference between them.

Both schools cover the same grade span, KG through fourth grade, and sit just 1.8 miles apart within St. Louis, making this a genuinely local choice for families in the overlapping attendance zone. There are no program-level distinctions in the available data to separate them on specialty offerings, so the decision rests primarily on the growth score advantage at Conway and the marginally smaller class sizes at Reed.