Village Elem, Emporia KS - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Village Elem

Village Elem is a public elementary school serving prekindergarten through fifth grade in Emporia, Kansas, a mixed-use micropolitan city that also functions as a college town and industrial center. The school is part of the Emporia school district, which operates one high school, one middle school, six elementary schools, and an early childhood center. Homes in Emporia are notably more affordable than both the Kansas state typical and the national typical, and rents also run below national norms, making the area accessible for families. The broader Emporia economy has long drawn on manufacturing and education, anchored by Emporia State University, Flint Hills Technical College, and large private employers. A recent blow to the local job picture came with the permanent closure of the Tyson Foods beef-packing plant in early 2025, which had been the city’s largest employer for many years. That shift may shape the community’s finances and enrollment patterns in the years ahead.

The school itself enrolls a moderate number of students across its grade span. The student body is roughly evenly split between students who identify as Hispanic and students who identify as white, with small shares identifying as two or more races, Asian, Black, or American Indian. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker that signals a community with notable economic need. That context matters for understanding the academic patterns that follow.

State test results from the most recent year, covering third through fifth graders in English language arts and math, and fifth graders in science, show a mixed picture. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above ran roughly in the range of a little over a third to just under half across grades, with fifth graders performing highest. In ELA, proficiency ranged from around two out of five students to just under half. Science in fifth grade was slightly higher, at about half proficient. Overall, when compared to other districts in Lyon County, Village Elem’s combined proficiency across subjects sits below the midpoint of the small cohort of districts in the county. These are not strong results, and a parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand how it supports students who are not yet meeting the state’s proficiency bar. Because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate data, and state testing data for kindergarten through second grade does not apply since those grades are not tested. The academic picture is thus drawn entirely from grades three through five.

Village Elem is a neighborhood school in a community with a traditional downtown core, large river-adjacent parks, and a mix of manufacturing and education employers. It does not have specialized academic programs listed in the available data, and no recent district changes such as bond issues or curriculum shifts were found. For families considering Emporia, the school offers an elementary setting in a district with multiple elementary options, set within a city that has a clear economic identity and a recent major employer shock that may affect the district’s trajectory. The housing affordability relative to state and national benchmarks is a practical consideration.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 337%

School 37% · District 29% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 32% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 39% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 339%

School 39% · District 41% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 45% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 42%

▼ 7 pts below state median

Science

Grade 552%

School 52% · District 41% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median

This schoolEmporia, 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 3Lower-income38%Higher-income43%5 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income31%Higher-income67%35 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income37%Higher-income50%13 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income32%Higher-income45%14 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income23%Higher-income49%26 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income45%Higher-income52%7 pp gap