The top reported proficiency rate is 36% in Science. The lowest is 25% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Burlingame Junior/senior High
Burlingame Junior/Senior High serves grades six through twelve in a single building that houses all of the district’s secondary students. The school sits in the small rural town of Burlingame, roughly a half-hour’s drive south of Topeka. The town itself is an agricultural community with a historic brick main street that traces back to the Santa Fe Trail era, and its population has seen a slight decline in recent years. There is a campus of Allen Community College in town, which gives students a nearby postsecondary option, but the local economy is dominated by agriculture and small-scale commercial activity. No major recent district changes such as a bond referendum or curriculum overhaul were found in publicly reported sources.
Enrollment is small, with roughly the same number of students in each grade from sixth through twelfth. The student body is overwhelmingly white, with very small shares of Black, Hispanic, and multiracial students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on special education and English learner populations was not available.
State assessment results from the Kansas Assessment Program for the most recent school year show proficiency rates in math, English language arts, and science that are fairly consistent across grades six, seven, and eight. In math, roughly a quarter of students at each tested grade level scored proficient or above. In English language arts, the proportion reached proficient or above was slightly higher, roughly three in ten students in grades six and seven and a little under a third of eighth graders. Science results for grade eight were higher, with better than a third of students meeting the proficient mark. It is worth noting that Kansas changed the cut scores for these assessments, which makes direct comparison with prior years uncertain. When placed against the other school districts in Osage County, Burlingame’s overall proficiency index, which averages results across tested subjects and grades, lands in the bottom quartile among the districts in that county.
No graduation rate was available in the data, so that measure cannot be evaluated here. The school may not report it in a way that was captured, and a parent may want to ask the school directly about its four-year graduation rate and college-going patterns. Chronic absenteeism data was also absent.
Housing in Burlingame is modestly priced compared to both the state and national benchmarks, with home values below the Kansas median and well below the national median. That affordability is one of the practical draws for families who work in the region or who want a slower-paced rural setting. The mortgage-rate environment at the time of this data was typical of the broader national market.
For a family considering this school, the picture is straightforward. This is a very small rural secondary school where the student body is largely homogeneous in background, and where state test results are on the low side relative to other districts in the county. A parent who values small class sizes, a single building where teachers know every student, and a setting that is closely tied to the town’s agricultural identity may find a good fit here. A parent who wants strong test-score outcomes, a wide array of advanced coursework, or a diverse peer environment should look into the school’s specific offerings more closely, as the data here does not show those strengths. The presence of a community college campus in town may provide some dual-enrollment options, but the data did not include a program list for this school.
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