Points of Pride

Out of about 450 public school districts in Missouri, Pattonville is ranked No. 11 among the top districts on Niche.com’s 2024 Best School Districts in America list. Nationally, Niche ranks Pattonville in the Top 6% of districts (No. 604 out of 10,932). In Missouri, the district is also ranked: 

• No. 1 for Most Diverse School Districts, 

• No. 4 for Best Places to Teach; and

• No. 42 for Districts with the Best Teachers.

Pattonville earned an overall grade of A from Niche, with grades ranging from A- to A+ in the following categories: administration, college prep, clubs and activities, diversity, resources and facilities and teachers. Niche is an online service that ranks private and public schools and districts based on dozens of statistics and opinions from students, parents and staff. Find out more at bit.ly/psdNiche.

Pattonville High School is ranked among the top high schools in Missouri and the nation on U.S. News and World Report’s 2023 Best High Schools list. Pattonville ranked as No. 45 out of 718 high schools in Missouri, placing it in the Top 7% of high schools in the state. This is the 10th time Pattonville earned a spot on U.S. News’ Best High Schools list in the last 11 years. The U.S. News Best High Schools rankings include data on nearly 25,000 public high schools in 50 states and the District of Columbia. About 18,000 schools were ranked on six factors based on their performance on state assessments and how well they prepare students for college.

Rose Acres Elementary School was named a 2020 National Blue Ribbon School (NBRS) by the U.S. Department of Education. Rose Acres is one of only seven schools in the state of Missouri to receive this honor. The program recognizes public and private elementary, middle and high schools based on their overall academic excellence or their progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups. Rose Acres met the criteria for Exemplary High Performing Schools, which means it is among the state’s highest performing schools as measured by state assessments or nationally normed tests. Only 367 schools across the U.S. were recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School in 2020.

Rose Acres is the first Pattonville school to be recognized as a Blue Ribbon School since 1993. Previous honorees include Pattonville Heights Middle School in 1984, Holman Middle School in 1985 and Pattonville High School in 1993. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Gold Star School program uses the same criteria as the National Blue Ribbon Schools program.

Rose Acres Elementary School has been named a Missouri Gold Star School for 2020. In its announcement on Aug. 20, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) honored the Pattonville elementary school is one of seven schools across the state recognized in the program, which uses the same criteria as the U.S. Department of Education’s National National Blue Ribbon Schools program. The Missouri Gold Star Schools and the National Blue Ribbon Schools programs recognize schools for outstanding academic achievement and/or schools that perform at high levels while serving a significant proportion of disadvantaged students.

Pattonville High School twice earned Gold Star Awards from Missouri. Holman Middle School and Pattonville Heights Middle School have also earned the Gold Star Award. 

The Pattonville School District has been awarded a 2023 Top Workplace honor by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The district was ranked No. 15 among the large employers in the St. Louis area (employers with 500 or more employees). This is the ninth year in a row Pattonville has earned Top Workplace recognition, and no other school district was ranked higher on the list than Pattonville. Only 179 businesses and organizations received recognition this year. The Top Workplaces list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by employee engagement technology partner Energage, LLC. The anonymous survey measures 15 drivers of engaged cultures that are critical to the success of any organization, including alignment, execution and connection. 

The Pattonville School District was chosen in 2018 to receive a What's Right with the Region Award by FOCUS St. Louis. The district was among 20 individuals, organizations and initiatives being honored for making a difference. The honorees were selected by a panel of community judges for their impact and service to the community. Pattonville was recognized in the category of "promoting stronger communities."

The Pattonville Board of Education was named a 2018 Outstanding Board of Education for Climate, Culture and Organizational Efficacy by the Missouri School Boards’ Association (MSBA). MSBA’s Outstanding Board of Education awards encourage effective board practices and recognize outstanding board performance in six categories. The Pattonville board won MSBA’s Outstanding Board of Education Award for Human and Organizational Capital in 2017; Teaching, Learning and Assessment in 2016; for Governance, Leadership and Accountability in 2013; and the MSBA Outstanding Board of Education Award in 2002. Pattonville’s board was also a finalist for the award in 2011 and 2008.

Pattonville High School has been named one of Newsweek’s Top STEM High Schools in America, honoring its excellence in teaching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Newsweek announced its top schools on Nov. 8 to coincide with National STEM Day. Overall, Pattonville is ranked No. 2,793 in the Top 5,000 public and private high schools for STEM education in the United States. When looking at just public and charter schools (which are also public schools), Pattonville was named in the Top 8% nationally out of more than 21,000 public high schools in the country. In Missouri, only 81 public and private high schools made Newsweek's list. There are 584 public and charter high schools in the state, and Pattonville is ranked No. 16 out of the 45 public/charter schools to receive the recognition. The list includes schools in every region of the country that offer skilled teachers who keep up with developments in these fields and who create dynamic learning environments to engage their students. 

Pattonville High School has been recognized as a 2022-2023 Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Distinguished High School. PHS is one of just 262 high schools across the United States to receive this honor for providing broad access to transformative learning experiences for students through PLTW (Computer Science, Biomedical Science, Engineering). PHS also earned the same recognition in the 2017-2018, 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years. PLTW is a nonprofit organization that serves millions of PreK-12 students and teachers in over 12,200 schools across the U.S. The PLTW Distinguished School recognition honors schools committed to increasing student access, engagement, and achievement in their PLTW programs. To be eligible for the designation, Pattonville High School had to meet the following criteria in the 2021-2022 school year: had at least 25% of students participate in PLTW high school courses, or of those who participated during the 2021-2022 school year, at least 33% take two or more PLTW courses during their tenure at the school; offer and have students enrolled in at least three PLTW high school courses; had strategies and procedures in place that support reasonably proportional representation with regard to race, ethnicity, poverty and gender and can support such claims with relevant data. This is the third straight year Pattonville has received this award.

Pattonville earned a 2013 Pinnacle Award from the Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO), which recognizes outstanding and creative practices that improve the efficiency of schools and make a difference in the education of the nation’s students. Pattonville was recognized for its iLearn program, a digital learning initiative in which Pattonville High School students access learning resources via online learning management websites anywhere, anytime via school-provided laptops. In its first year (2012-2013), staff launched 21,000 modules on their online learning websites, which were accessed by 1,800 students 1.7 million times.

Pattonville was one of 14 school districts nationwide to receive the President’s Technology Award from the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), which recognizes vision and leadership in technology to advance teaching, learning and achievement. Beginning 2012, every student at Pattonville High School receives a MacBook laptop to provide them access to learning resources 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Teachers spent the 2011-2012 school year developing online learning management websites to support the new learning environment. The websites contain course-specific information, including course syllabus, weekly activities, assignments and resources. The tool is also used to host discussions, share podcasts or videos and interact on course activities.

Pattonville was among 100 districts nationwide honored with the Meritorious Budget Award from the Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO), which recognizes districts for achieving excellence in their annual budget preparation and presentation.

Pattonville’s early childhood education program was selected as the Missouri School Boards Association (MSBA) FutureBuilders Early Childhood Education Program of the Year in 2012. The award recognizes innovative and original early childhood education programs within Missouri. Award recipients are selected based on their innovative approaches and outstanding ability to engage and support the development of the children in their care as well as their overall commitment to the early childhood education profession.

Two Pattonville teachers have been named Missouri Teacher of the Year and six others have been named state finalists since 1986, including Willow Brook Elementary School English Language Learner Teacher Yulia Kotets in 2015. Allison Stout was a regional finalist for the state award in 2016 and Jeremiah Simmons was named a regional finalist and state semifinalist in 2019. There have only been 51 Missouri Teachers of the Year since the state began the program in 1957.

Twenty-one Pattonville teachers have earned National Board Certification, the highest credential awarded to a teacher.

Pattonville earned the Missouri Commissioner of Education's Professional Development Excellence Award in 2004 for staff training programs that enhance teaching and learning.

Pattonville High School was named a national School of Character by the Character Education Partnership and Business Week magazine because character traits such as respect and service are embedded in the curriculum. The high school requires 50 hours of community service for graduation. The school was also named a National School of Service Learning. Bridgeway Elementary School, Parkwood Elementary, Remington Traditional School, Willow Brook Elementary, Holman Middle School and Pattonville’s early childhood program have all been honored with state-level recognition for their Positive Behavior Supports programs. Willow Brook has also earned a State School of Character Award for its character education program.

Pattonville met the criteria for Missouri’s Distinction in Performance Award for academic performance 13 consecutive years; Pattonville is the most diverse district in Missouri to achieve Distinction in Performance every year it was bestowed, an honor shared by only 5% of districts in Missouri.

Remington Traditional School was named to state’s Top 10 lists for highest performing schools 11 years in a row; also on the highest performing Top 10 lists in the state: Rose Acres Elementary (2006 and 2008) and Parkwood Elementary (2007); note: the state no longer compiles this list.