The top reported proficiency rate is 25% in English language arts. The lowest is 17% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Cottonwood Elementary School
Cottonwood Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Liberal, Kansas. It is one of several elementary schools within the Liberal public school district, a district that covers the city and its immediate surroundings. The school occupies a standard elementary building set within a mixed-use part of town, close to the residential grid that spreads across this High Plains community.
Academically, Cottonwood’s state assessment results place it in a particular position. On the Kansas Assessment Program tests, the share of students scoring at the proficient or advanced level was low in every tested subject and grade. Math proficiency rates fell in a narrow range across grades three, four, and five, with the highest rate still well below where many Kansas schools land. English language arts results followed a similar pattern, with the highest rate among the tested grades still modest and the lowest rate in the grade five results notably soft. Science results for fifth graders were also low. The school’s overall proficiency index, when averaged across all tested subjects and grades, sits above the midpoint among the two school districts in Seward County. That positioning means it falls between the lower and higher performer in the county, a context that reflects a county with only two districts rather than a broad spread of options.
Enrollment at Cottonwood is sizable for an elementary school, and the student body is heavily Hispanic, with a much smaller share of white students and very small numbers from other racial and ethnic groups. A very high share of students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a population with substantial economic need. Data on the share of students receiving special education services or classified as English learners was not available in the records reviewed. A parent interested in those supports would want to ask the school directly about its English learner programs and special education staffing.
The school is part of Liberal, a city that functions as the county seat and a regional economic hub for southwest Kansas. The local economy turns on beef processing, oil and gas extraction, trucking, and agriculture, with a notable presence of the energy sector and a growing manufacturing base through a new battery facility. The population is majority Hispanic and includes a large share of foreign-born residents, giving the city a strongly bilingual character. Housing is relatively affordable, with home values and rents well below national benchmarks, though the city’s population has been declining slightly in recent years. Development activity has focused on civic infrastructure and industrial recruitment rather than new housing subdivisions. Liberal is car-dependent, with limited walkability and no significant public transit, but most residents have short commutes.
Cottonwood does not offer any specialized or magnet programs that appear in the available data. It is a standard attendance-zone elementary school. There is no information on course access, staffing ratios, or discipline incidents, so a family weighing this school would need to tour, speak with the principal, and ask about class sizes and support services directly. The district has not recently made public any major strategic changes or new initiatives that would alter the school’s daily operation.
For a family considering Cottonwood, the academic picture is a primary consideration. Proficiency rates are low, and while the school sits in the middle of a small county comparison, that comparison likely says more about the limited number of districts than about academic strength. A parent looking for strong academic outcomes may want to investigate what interventions and instructional supports are in place. The school’s demographic and economic profile is quite distinct, shaped by a largely Hispanic, low-income student body in a community where bilingual and multicultural life is the norm. The broader Liberal area offers a stable, if modest, housing market and a working-class economy, but not a wide array of out-of-school amenities or rapid residential growth. Cottonwood fits a family that values a neighborhood school in a close-knit, culturally specific setting and is prepared to engage with the school around academic support.
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