Elkhart Middle School, Elkhart KS

Original Research by School Decision on Elkhart Middle School

Elkhart Middle School serves sixth through eighth grade in a small rural community at the Kansas-Oklahoma border, a county seat in the southwestern corner of the state. The school is part of the Elkhart district, which operates the town’s public schools. The town of Elkhart has a compact footprint typical of a Great Plains county seat, with civic life centered around Morton Street and the county courthouse. Population and median household income have ticked upward in recent years, though the housing stock remains modest in value relative to state and national benchmarks, and home values have edged downward over the past year.

The school is small, with an enrollment that is roughly balanced across the three middle grades. The student body is predominantly white and Hispanic, and the remainder includes small numbers of students who are Black, Asian, or American Indian or Alaska Native. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a signal that the school serves a community with a notable concentration of lower-income households.

On the Kansas assessment, known as KAP, performance is mixed. In English language arts, the share of students scoring at proficient or above rises across the grades, with eighth-grade results landing in a range that is near the middle among tested grade levels. In math, proficiency rates are lower, and those rates show a somewhat uneven pattern. In both sixth and seventh grade math, a smaller share of students met the bar than in eighth grade. In eighth-grade science, a share of students scored proficient or above that is comparable to the lower end of the English language arts results. Kansas made changes to the cut scores on these assessments, so year-over-year comparisons are not reliable.

When placed against the other districts in Morton County, Elkhart Middle School holds a position near the top of the small local set on overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades. That framing matters because the county contains very few districts, so the comparison offers a limited view. The school’s internal pattern is more instructive: English language arts is the stronger subject, and math is the area where a parent may want to look into this further with the school. There is no data on chronic absenteeism, on special education or English learner enrollment, or on staffing ratios, so a fuller picture of student support and school climate is not available from the public record.

No graduation rate is reported because the school serves only middle grades. Similarly, there is no information about course access or program offerings at the school level. The district brief turned up no recent changes that would affect a family’s decision.

This is a straightforward middle school in a very small, rural setting. The principal academic strengths are in English language arts, especially by eighth grade. The math results are soft and would merit a conversation with the school about how they address math instruction across the middle grades. The student body is economically diverse. The setting is quiet, with limited commercial and civic infrastructure but with the basics of a county seat. Families who prioritize a small, familiar environment where the school is a central part of town life may find this a natural fit. Those looking for broad program variety or a strong math track should ask directly about what is offered.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 629%

School 29% · District 16% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▼ 12 pts below state median

Grade 721%

School 21% · District 26% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 24% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▼ 3 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 646%

School 46% · District 41% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median

Grade 742%

School 42% · District 45% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 38% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median

Science

Grade 841%

School 41% · District 36% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median

This schoolElkhart, 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 5Lower-income46%Higher-income23%23 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income50%Higher-income42%8 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income45%Higher-income36%9 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income4%Higher-income15%11 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income8%Higher-income50%42 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income18%Higher-income27%9 pp gap