The top reported proficiency rate is 59% in English language arts. The lowest is 44% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Concordia Elementary
Concordia Elementary serves students from pre-kindergarten through fourth grade and is part of the Concordia public school district in north-central Kansas. It is the only elementary school in the district, meaning nearly all young children in Concordia attend here. The school has a sizable enrollment for an early-elementary building, with a student body that is mostly white. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school in a higher-poverty context than many surrounding communities.
The town of Concordia is the county seat of Cloud County. It functions as a small regional hub, anchored by Cloud County Community College, a new hospital, the county government, and the Sisters of St. Joseph Nazareth Convent. The downtown includes a restored historic theater, the National Orphan Train Complex, and a public library. A compact grid layout from the town's founding means the school, downtown, and civic institutions are close together rather than spread out. The town's population has been described as currently declining, and the housing market is relatively affordable compared to national and state benchmarks. The district itself did not have any major recent bond issues, curriculum overhauls, or other parent-relevant changes that publicly surfaced in a search of the last several years.
State testing data is available for third and fourth grade, the only tested grades in this building. The school cut scores changed in both math and English language arts for this testing year, and the state cautions that results may not be directly comparable to prior years. With that in mind, reading proficiency rates in third grade were above the midpoint. Fourth grade reading was somewhat lower. Math proficiency for both tested grades fell below that of reading, with fourth grade math below the others. A comparison among districts within Cloud County shows Concordia Elementary's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades came in above the midpoint relative to the other three districts. That is a small comparison set, but within this county the school is performing at a level that positions it favorably.
Because the school serves only through fourth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. Chronic absenteeism data was not available, and neither were discipline or staffing figures. Special education and English learner counts were also missing from the available data. A parent wanting to understand how the school supports students with disabilities or multilingual learners may need to ask the district or school directly for those specifics.
The school itself is a conventional public elementary, not a charter or magnet. No preschool enrichment or specialized programs were listed in the data received. Families looking at Concordia Elementary are choosing a small-town, county-seat setting where the school is woven into the daily fabric of the community. The early grades are gathered here, and then students move to a junior-senior high school for grade seven and up. The town's institutional anchors in education and healthcare mean the school is part of a community that has invested in itself, even as the overall population has not grown.
For a family weighing this school, the core academic picture is of a building where a majority of third graders met reading benchmarks in a year with changed cut scores, and where math results were weaker. The school serves a student body with a high share of economic need, which can add demands on teachers and resources. The town is quiet and affordable. A parent may want to visit and ask about how the school addresses math instruction in the early grades, and what supports are in place for the half of students who qualify for meal assistance.
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