The top reported proficiency rate is 49% in English language arts. The lowest is 44% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Chapman Middle School
Chapman Middle School serves students in sixth through eighth grades within the small, rural town of Chapman, Kansas, a community that has been steadily rebuilding after a devastating tornado. The school sits within the Chapman district, and its setting is a traditional one: the school buildings are integrated into the town rather than isolated on a distant campus, with easy proximity to residential neighborhoods. The town itself, off Interstate 70 and roughly an hour from Topeka, retains a rural small-town character, with a compact downtown core and local businesses in banking and agriculture.
The student body is predominantly White, with a small share of Hispanic students and even smaller numbers of other racial and ethnic groups. Over two in five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that gives a rough sense of the economic diversity of the families the school serves. Data on students receiving special education services or English learner support were not available in the source records.
Looking at academic performance on the Kansas state assessments, results in English language arts and mathematics show a middling pattern. In sixth-grade math, less than half of students scored at the proficient level or above, and seventh-grade math was lower still, with two out of five students reaching that threshold. Eighth-grade math was in a similar range. In English language arts, proficiency rates across all three grade levels clustered near the middle mark, with the sixth grade just above half and the other grades below it. Science, tested only in eighth grade, showed a similar result, with a substantial share of students below the proficient mark. These outcomes are for a single school year, and the state made a change to the test's cut scores that year, so direct comparisons to prior years may not be meaningful.
For a broader context, the state's comparison places Chapman Middle School in the top quartile among districts in Dickinson County on an overall proficiency index that averages across tested subjects and grades. That means that within the county's four districts, the school's combined academic performance sits at the upper end, though the range from the lowest to highest district is narrow. A parent considering the school will want to weigh this county-level position against the absolute proficiency rates, which indicate that a significant portion of students are not yet meeting grade-level standards in core subjects.
The housing market in the area shows that typical home values in Chapman are modest, close to the state average and well below the national typical figure. Monthly mortgage costs for a median-priced home, after a typical down payment, are estimated to be in a range that is manageable relative to the national median household income, and the estimated rent is lower than that mortgage payment. This suggests that the local market is relatively affordable. The national unemployment rate at the time of this analysis was just over four percent, and the broader economic context reflects a steady recovery period.
The town of Chapman has seen a slow population growth since the 2020 census, and the median household income in the area has grown in recent years. The community actively markets available commercial and industrial building sites, signaling an intentional push for economic development. For families, this means a small-town environment that is stable but not static, with a school that serves as a central community institution.
The school offers a standard middle school academic program for its grade band. No information was available about specific course offerings, elective pathways, or extracurricular programs in the data provided, so a parent may wish to contact the school directly to learn about what is available beyond the core curriculum. Similarly, no data was available on chronic absenteeism or discipline patterns, which are areas a family might want to explore further with the school administration. The district itself did not have any major recent changes publicly reported, suggesting a period of continuity in leadership and operations.
For a family, Chapman Middle School fits the profile of a small Kansas town school where academic results are around the middle statewide but sit at the higher end within the immediate county. The school serves a community that has shown resilience through rebuilding, and the affordable housing adds to its accessibility. A parent looking for a school with strong test scores may want to look into how the school supports students who are not yet proficient, while those who value a close-knit, rural setting with a clear community identity will find that in place here.
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