The top reported proficiency rate is 40% in English language arts. The lowest is 36% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Miller Elem
Miller Elementary is a public school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Dodge City, Kansas. It operates within the Dodge City school district, and the data available provides a focused look at its academic environment and the community it sits in.
The school shows a distinct pattern in its state assessment results from the Kansas Assessment Program. In third grade, both math and English language arts proficiency were reported at a level that is a clear strength for that grade. By fourth grade, however, the proficiency rates in both subjects dropped substantially. Fifth grade math and English language arts proficiency rates fell between the third and fourth grade levels, while fifth grade science proficiency was reported at a similar rate to its fifth-grade math and English results. A parent may want to follow up with the school about this shift between third and fourth grade to understand how the curriculum or student cohort changes across those years. It is also worth noting that the state made changes to the cut scores for the assessments in math, English language arts, and science for this testing year, which means these results cannot be directly compared to prior years to measure growth or decline.
The student body is large for an elementary school serving these grade levels. The enrollment is heavily concentrated in pre-kindergarten, which accounts for a significant portion of the total. The student population is predominantly Hispanic, and a substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. This economic profile suggests a high-need student body, and the school is likely a Title I school, though that status was not explicitly confirmed in the data. Race and ethnicity counts, as well as the free lunch rate, were confirmed, but counts for students with disabilities and English learners were not available in the data.
Dodge City is characterized by a meatpacking and agricultural economy. Cargill Meat Solutions and National Beef are major employers, and the city also supports farm implement manufacturing, a supply center for area agriculture, and a tourism sector built around its Old West heritage. The population has been essentially flat to slightly declining in recent years, and the housing market reflects a modest cost of living, with home values below the national benchmark. The city is a small High Plains city with a compact layout, wide streets, and short average commute times. Walkability and street life are consistent with a western Kansas plains town of its size, with the downtown area housing the county courthouse and civic functions.
The comparison data places Miller Elementary’s overall proficiency index, which is an average of proficiency rates across all tested subjects and grades, below the midpoint among the districts in Ford County. There are three other districts in the county for which data was available for this comparison. A four-year graduation rate and a chronic absenteeism rate were not available for a school serving only through fifth grade, which is expected.
The school operates from a location on Avenue G in Dodge City, and no recent district-level changes or major parent-relevant updates were found in the public record. The website for the district would be the best source for information on specific programs, after-school offerings, and family engagement opportunities. For a family considering this school, the key factors are the strong third-grade starting point, the noticeable drop in fourth-grade assessment results, the large pre-kindergarten program, and the economically diverse student body in a stable but not rapidly growing High Plains community.
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