The top reported proficiency rate is 50% in Math. The lowest is 43% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Union Valley Elem
Union Valley Elementary is one of the elementary schools within Buhler USD 313, serving students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It is located on East 30th Avenue in Hutchinson, a mid-sized city that serves as the regional hub of Reno County in south-central Kansas. The school sits within a city that balances a working industrial base built on salt mining and grain storage with civic anchors like the Kansas State Fairgrounds and the Cosmosphere aerospace museum, though the daily texture of the city is largely car-dependent outside its downtown core.
Union Valley serves a student population that is largely white, with a modest Hispanic share. About half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that sits near the middle among schools in the area. The school has a noticeable enrollment for an elementary building serving these grades, with full classrooms across multiple sections per grade and a sizable pre-kindergarten program.
On state assessments administered through the Kansas Assessment Program, Union Valley’s performance shows an uneven pattern across subjects and grade levels. In math, proficiency rates range from below half of students at grade three and grade five to a stronger showing at grade four, where a clear majority scored proficient. English language arts results follow a similar trajectory, with the lowest performance in grade three, where fewer than half of students were proficient, and higher marks in grades four and five, where roughly half or slightly more were. Fifth-grade science results show a share of students achieving proficiency that is below half. When looking across all tested subjects and grades the school lands well above the midpoint among Reno County districts, a reflection of stronger outcomes at some grade levels relative to others in the county.
There is an important caveat for these numbers. Kansas raised the cut scores for math and English language arts in recent years, meaning results from this testing year cannot be directly compared to earlier years’ data. A parent should understand that the proficiency rates reported here reflect a new, more challenging bar and may appear lower than what families saw in prior years at the same school.
Because Union Valley only serves elementary grades, there is no graduation rate for this school. Its students will move on to Buhler district middle and high schools. The school’s offerings beyond core academics were not provided in the available data, so families should check directly with the school about programs such as music, art, physical education, or enrichment.
Housing in the area around Union Valley is moderately priced relative to national benchmarks, with typical home values in the immediate zip code running lower than the state average. Rental prices are similarly modest. For context, a typical household in this part of Kansas can expect to pay a smaller share of income toward rent than the national average, which tends to make the area accessible for families who are buying or renting.
What is less clear from the available data is how the school addresses student behavior and attendance. No information on chronic absenteeism, disciplinary incidents, or staffing levels was available. A parent who values understanding school climate and student support may want to ask the school directly about these topics, as they can shape a child’s daily experience as much as test scores do.
Union Valley appears to serve as a neighborhood school for families in the Hutchinson area who are part of the Buhler district. Its academic picture is mixed, with particular soft spots in third-grade English language arts and in math at the lower elementary grades, areas where a parent may want to investigate intervention and support structures. Its relative position within Reno County suggests it is performing above the typical school in the county across its tested subjects, but families should weigh that against the unevenness across individual grade levels. The school’s size and pre-kindergarten program could be draws for families seeking an elementary setting with a range of class options and a feeder pathway into the middle school.
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