The top reported proficiency rate is 39% in Science. The lowest is 30% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Crest Elementary
Crest Elementary is the sole school in the tiny, rural town of Colony, Kansas, and it serves every student in the Crest district from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. This is a community where the school is woven into the fabric of daily life, physically located on the main street in a town where the population has been essentially flat for years. For a family considering this school, the setting itself is the story. Colony is a very small, quiet agricultural town; the former railroad line through town is now a rail trail, a key recreational amenity. There are no major employers, no public library branch identified in town, and no public transit. The school district is the most visible civic institution.
The student body, while small, is not socioeconomically uniform. A substantial share of students come from households with lower incomes, a figure that places this school in a different economic context than a more affluent suburb might offer. Racially, the student population is overwhelmingly white, with a small Hispanic presence and no Black or Asian students reported. The school covers a wide grade span, meaning that a child could attend Crest Elementary for ten consecutive years, from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, before moving on to Crest High School, which is on the same street.
State testing results show a pattern that a family will want to read carefully. The school's overall proficiency index, when averaged across all tested subjects and grades, falls above the midpoint among the two districts in Anderson County. That county-level comparison, however, has a very small set of peers, so the spread is narrow. Within the school itself, performance varies noticeably by grade level and subject. In mathematics, proficiency rates across grades three through eight show a wide range, from a low point in one grade to a notably higher rate in another. English language arts results follow a similar pattern, with grade-level rates that vary considerably. Science results, available for grades five and eight, show that in each tested grade around two-fifths of students met the proficiency bar. A parent may want to ask the school specifically about the instructional approach in the grades where proficiency dips, and how the school supports students who are not meeting benchmarks.
Because Crest Elementary serves only through eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. The school's data did not include information on chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, or course access, so those pieces are missing from this picture. The district itself, from the research that was available, shows no major recent changes or initiatives that were publicly reported. The community context suggests a stable, slow-moving local economy. Housing values in the area are well below state and national benchmarks, making this a comparatively affordable place to buy a home.
For whom does this school fit? A family that values a very small, rural school environment where their child can attend the same building for nearly a decade, with teachers who likely know every student by name, will find that here. The peer group is small and economically mixed. The academic results are uneven across grades, so a parent should be prepared to be an active partner with the school, particularly in the years where state testing data shows lower proficiency rates. This is not a school with broad program offerings or a bustling extracurricular landscape. It is a straightforward, small-town K-8 school in a community that has not changed much in a long time.
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