The top reported proficiency rate is 59% in Science. The lowest is 39% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Logan
Logan is a small, rural public school district in northwest Kansas serving pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. The district operates two schools: an elementary school and a high school. Its enrollment is very small, with students spread across all grades from PK through twelve. The student body is overwhelmingly white, with a modest Hispanic share and no other racial or ethnic groups represented in the data. The district’s size means that each grade has only a handful of students, which shapes the academic and social experience considerably.
State testing results from the Kansas Assessment Program are available for selected grades in math, English language arts, and science, though participation rates and tested counts were not reported. The results show a mixed picture that varies by grade and subject. In fourth grade, proficiency in both math and ELA was above a simple majority threshold. Eighth grade math also reached that level. Fifth grade science and eighth grade science showed solid results, with eighth grade science reaching a notably higher level. However, other grades struggled. Fifth grade math proficiency was lower, and sixth grade math and ELA both had a low rate of students meeting the state’s proficient benchmark. This creates a pattern where some grade levels perform well while others do not, which is common in very small districts where a single cohort’s composition can heavily influence year-to-year numbers. A parent exploring the district would want to ask the school about how it supports students in the grades where proficiency dipped, and about how the small class sizes affect instruction.
No graduation rate was available in the data. This may be because the district is small enough that the state does not publicly report rates for cohorts that are too small, but the data did not specify the reason. Similarly, information on free or reduced-price meal eligibility, special education services, and English learner status were all missing. The district brief turned up no recent changes of lasting impact to report, so this appears to be a stable, long-established rural district without major recent disruptions.
The community and housing context places Logan in Phillips County, a rural part of northwest Kansas. Housing values in the area are well below state and national medians. Home prices are relatively modest, concentrated in a few zip codes that include the town of Logan and nearby small communities. The weighted district average is a fraction of the Kansas state benchmark. This makes Logan an affordable area for homebuyers compared to much of the state. The estimated monthly mortgage payment, based on current interest rates, is low. Unemployment nationally has hovered around modest levels, and median household income data for the U.S. suggests a typical household could afford the area’s housing.
The district’s comparison set is among Phillips County’s districts, but because the county has only two districts and one of them lacks the necessary data points, the system could not produce a meaningful comparison on proficiency, graduation, chronic absenteeism, or spending. That means there is no way to judge Logan relative to its only neighbor using the metrics available here.
Program offerings were not listed in the provided data, so nothing can be said about advanced coursework, career and technical education, or extracurriculars. The district website was not cited with specifics, and no locale brief was included to give a sense of the town of Logan itself. What is clear is that this is a very small district where families would know each other, class sizes are tiny, and the academic results are uneven across grades. A parent considering Logan should reach out directly to ask about the missing data points that matter most to them such as special education support, college-going rates, and what the district does to address the weaker test results in middle school grades. The district’s affordable housing market and rural setting will appeal to families seeking a quiet, low-cost community, but the thin public data means that a close look at the schools themselves is essential.
See more original research from School Decision →