The top reported proficiency rate is 51% in English language arts. The lowest is 40% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Holton Elementary School
Holton Elementary School serves students from prekindergarten through fifth grade in the Jackson County seat of Holton, Kansas. The city itself is a small Midwestern agricultural hub, with a traditional courthouse square at its center, county government offices, a community hospital, and the infrastructure of a county seat. The population has seen a modest decline from recent census levels, and there is no mention of major new housing development in the publicly available materials. The school is part of the Holton school district, and the district brief turned up little in the way of recent parent-relevant changes or strategic priorities, so those are left out rather than guessed.
The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic population and smaller shares of students who identify as two or more races, American Indian or Alaska Native, Black, and Asian. A notable share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a community with a range of economic circumstances. Data on the share of students with individualized education plans or English learner status was not available.
On state assessments, the picture is mixed and shows some variation by grade level and subject. In English language arts, third and fourth graders posted proficiency rates that were above the midpoint among the tested grades, while fifth graders were lower. In math, performance was weaker, with third and fifth graders showing somewhat stronger results than fourth graders. Fifth-grade science proficiency was in the same range as math. Because the state adjusted cut scores for these assessments in recent years, direct year-over-year trend comparisons are not possible from the available data, so this single year’s results should be read as a baseline rather than a trend. When compared with other districts in Jackson County, the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint of the four districts in the county. That county-level comparison is the best available, but because Holton Elementary is the only elementary school in its district, the comparison is really against the average performance of other districts, not other individual schools.
No civil rights discipline data, chronic absenteeism rates, or staffing ratios were provided, so it is not possible to speak to school climate from those angles. A parent who wants to understand disciplinary patterns or staff support levels would need to ask the school directly.
The school is not a charter or magnet, and its Title I status was not reported. No information on course access or special programs was provided, which is common for an elementary school where the curriculum is typically self-contained in each grade rather than tracked.
Holton Elementary, then, is a neighborhood elementary school in a stable if slowly shrinking county seat, serving a largely white student body with significant economic diversity. The academic picture shows some grade-level variation, with English language arts the stronger area and math an area where a parent might want to look into this further with the school. The school sits in an area where home values are near the state benchmark and mortgage rates are at a typical recent level, making housing affordability a realistic consideration for families moving into the district. The overall student population is large for an elementary school serving only prekindergarten through fifth grade, which is partly explained by a sizable prekindergarten enrollment. This is a school that reflects the character of its town: unshowy, with a standard elementary program and outcomes that are around the middle of the local landscape.
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