Clearwater Intermediate - Middle School, Clearwater KS

Original Research by School Decision on Clearwater Intermediate - Middle School

Clearwater Intermediate - Middle School serves students in fourth through eighth grade, a combined intermediate and middle school that sits within the Clearwater USD 264 district. The school is located in the small, family-oriented town of Clearwater, Kansas, a primarily residential community surrounded by farmland roughly a short drive southwest of Wichita. For a family considering this school, the setting offers a quiet, rural atmosphere with the amenities of a nearby metro area.

The academic picture is mixed and worth examining by subject and grade level. On the Kansas assessment administered in the 2024-25 school year, the school’s overall proficiency across all tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint relative to other districts in Sedgwick County. That summary figure hides notable variation. In English language arts, performance is reasonably steady across grades: about half of students in fourth, fifth, seventh, and eighth grade met proficiency, while sixth graders posted a stronger showing. Science results for both fifth and eighth graders are solid, with a clear majority of students scoring proficient. Math tells a more uneven story. Fifth and sixth graders perform well, with better than half of students meeting the bar. But fourth graders and seventh graders both show a much lower rate of proficiency, and eighth graders also fall below half. These dips are big enough that a parent may want to ask the school about math instruction patterns and support for those grade levels.

The student body is about four hundred students in a five-grade span, which keeps class sizes moderate. Racially and ethnically, the school is overwhelmingly white, with a small Hispanic population and very small numbers of other groups represented. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a modest degree of economic diversity. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported, so a family with a child in either category would want to ask the district directly about available services.

Clearwater itself has a stable, slow-growing residential base. Housing values in the area are near the Kansas state benchmark, and the town has a low rental vacancy rate, consistent with a settled community. The town has no major local employers; many residents commute to Wichita, where places like Cessna are nearby. The school district is a central civic anchor. The district brief turned up no recent bond issues, curriculum changes, or major board decisions of lasting note, so there is little on the district level that would signal a shift in direction.

Overall, Clearwater Intermediate - Middle School is a typical rural Kansas school with a solid middle ground in academic performance. Its strengths lie in English language arts and science, while math has clear weak points at certain grades that merit inquiry. The peer environment is homogeneous and economically varied to a modest degree. For a family looking for a small-town school within commuting distance of Wichita, this school fits that profile, but the math results are a specific area to investigate further with the school itself.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 53%

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 30 pts above county median

Grade 663%

School 63% · District 63%

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 33 pts above county median

Grade 732%

School 32% · District 32%

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 839%

School 39% · District 39%

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 47%

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 49%

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 662%

School 62% · District 62%

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Grade 751%

School 51% · District 51%

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 852%

School 52% · District 52%

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Science

Grade 560%

School 60% · District 60%

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above county median

Grade 857%

School 57% · District 57%

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

This schoolClearwater, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 4Lower-income33%Higher-income54%21 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income39%Higher-income56%17 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income63%Higher-income61%2 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income37%Higher-income58%21 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income46%Higher-income54%8 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income22%Higher-income33%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income48%Higher-income57%9 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income37%Higher-income74%37 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income19%Higher-income38%20 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income27%Higher-income43%16 pp gap