The top reported proficiency rate is 48% in English language arts. The lowest is 42% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Baldwin Junior High School
Baldwin Junior High School serves students in sixth through eighth grades in the Baldwin City public school district, a system that covers most of southern Douglas County. The school sits within a small college town anchored by Baker University, Kansas’s oldest four-year university, and the town’s historic downtown and campus grew together from the city’s origins as a Santa Fe Trail stop. The community holds an annual Maple Leaf Festival each October, and the Midland Railway operates excursion rides from the historic depot near the downtown core. Housing values in the area sit above the statewide typical level, reflecting a local market shaped by the university’s presence and its draw of faculty, staff, and students.
The school’s enrollment of roughly several hundred students is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population representing a modest share and very small numbers of students from other racial and ethnic groups. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school in the middle range of economic need for a public school. The junior high is one of four district schools in Baldwin City, which also includes an elementary school, an intermediate school, and the high school.
State assessment data from the Kansas Assessment Program, which underwent a cut-score change in math and English language arts that makes year-to-year comparisons uncertain, shows proficiency rates that vary by grade and subject. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above in each grade falls in the low-to-mid forties range, with the eighth-grade rate slightly above the seventh-grade rate and both above the sixth-grade rate. In English language arts, the sixth-grade rate stands higher than the seventh- and eighth-grade rates, with seventh-grade dipping to the same level as math. Eighth-grade science results place proficiency at a similar level. When compared with other districts in Douglas County, the school’s overall proficiency index sits in the bottom quarter among the county’s districts, a soft spot a parent may want to look into further with the school to understand how the school supports student learning in these tested subjects.
No data was available on discipline rates, chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, course access, or special education and English learner populations, so the full picture of student support and school climate is incomplete from the available records. The district does not report a graduation rate for this school because it serves only middle grades, so that measure does not apply here.
The district recently completed a voter-approved bond package that funded a new elementary school addition, district-wide safety and security upgrades, and facility improvements at the junior high and high school. The bond was structured so that the district’s tax levy would not increase, a factor a resident might consider when evaluating future property costs. Because the junior high was among the schools that received facility upgrades, families can expect some physical improvements to the building and its infrastructure.
This is a middle school in a small university town where the school district is a major local employer alongside the college. The academic picture on state tests lands below the county median, and a parent would want to ask the school about its approach to raising proficiency, particularly in math and English language arts, where the results for grades seven and eight fall short of sixth-grade performance. The school’s size is typical for a community of this scale, and the setting offers a walkable, historic downtown within a short distance of the campus. For a family already living in Baldwin City or considering a move there, the junior high is the single middle-grade option in the district, so the question is less about choosing among schools and more about whether this particular school’s academic trajectory and support resources fit a student’s needs.
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