The top reported proficiency rate is 55% in Science. The lowest is 37% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Jefferson School
Jefferson School serves third through fifth grade in the Independence public school district. It is one of several elementary buildings in the system, and it receives students after they have finished the primary grades at Eisenhower Elementary and before they move on to Independence Middle School. The school is located on the north side of the city, a county seat in southeastern Kansas that has seen a steady decline in its population over the past two decades. Independence is a small trade and processing center tied to agriculture, oil and natural gas history, and some manufacturing, with a modest downtown core and a community college that brings in students from the broader region. The housing market in the area is relatively affordable, though the city’s long-term population loss suggests limited recent growth pressure.
The student body at Jefferson is predominantly white, with a notable Hispanic presence and a share of students who identify as two or more races. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is an indicator of the economic circumstances many families in the district face. The school serves only three grade levels, so its total enrollment is moderate for that grade band, with a fairly even distribution across grades three through five.
State assessment results from the Kansas Assessment Program, which has undergone a cut-score change that makes year-over-year trend comparisons unreliable, show a mixed picture. In English language arts, performance varies by grade. The fifth-grade cohort posted the highest proficiency rate among the three grades tested, with about half of students meeting the state’s standard. Fourth-grade results were lower, falling below half. In mathematics, proficiency rates were consistent across all three grades, though at a level that indicates a majority of students did not reach the state benchmark. Science is tested only in fifth grade, and that cohort performed at roughly the same level as it did in math. When placed in the context of other school districts in Montgomery County, Jefferson’s overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint, meaning it outperforms the middle of the pack among local districts, though it trails the top performer in the county.
The district brief did not turn up any significant recent changes, such as boundary adjustments, program overhauls, or facility plans, that would be of direct relevance to a family considering the school. That absence of news is itself a neutral signal: the district appears to have operated without major disruption or announced transformation in the recent period.
Jefferson is an elementary-only school, so there is no graduation rate to report, and data on chronic absenteeism was not available. Information on discipline, staffing ratios, and course access was also missing from the profile, so a parent may want to look into these areas further with the school to get a fuller sense of the daily environment. The school is not a charter or magnet, and no Title I status was listed.
For a family considering this school, the key facts are straightforward. It serves a three-year span of upper elementary grades in a small, declining city with an affordable housing market. Academic performance is uneven, with English language arts results showing a wider range across grades, math results consistently below the proficiency mark, and science results matching math. Relative to other districts in the county, Jefferson lands above the middle in combined proficiency, but the absolute numbers suggest that a significant portion of students are not meeting state standards in core subjects. Families may want to ask about how the school supports students who are not yet proficient and whether any specific programs or interventions are in place. The school’s size and grade configuration mean it is a defined stopping point for three years before students feed into the district’s middle school.
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