The top reported proficiency rate is 14% in English language arts. The lowest is 8% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Meadowlark Elementary School
Meadowlark Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Liberal, Kansas, as part of the Liberal public school district. The school sits in a city that functions as the county seat of Seward County and a regional hub for southwest Kansas, with an economy built around beef processing, oil and gas extraction, trucking, and agriculture. Liberal has a strongly bilingual and multicultural character, with a majority Hispanic or Latino population and a large share of foreign-born residents. The city is car-dependent, with limited walkability and minimal street life. Its population has been declining modestly in recent years, though there are notable civic reinvestments, including a new community natatorium and an incoming battery manufacturing facility. Housing values in the area are well below national medians, and the cost of living is relatively low.
Meadowlark’s enrollment is moderate for its grade band. The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, with a small share of white students and even smaller shares of Black, Asian, multiracial, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. The vast majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a high concentration of economic need. Information on the share of students with individualized education plans or those identified as English learners was not available in the data.
State assessment results from the Kansas Assessment Program are available for the most recent school year, though it is important to note that Kansas changed its cut scores for math and English language arts in that same year, which makes direct comparisons with prior results uncertain. Across third, fourth, and fifth grades, proficiency rates in both math and English language arts are low. In math, the proportion of students scoring at the proficient level or above sits in a narrow band, with each grade reporting rates around where they are. In English language arts, the rates are slightly higher but still low, with the highest grade level reaching a modest share. Fifth-grade science results show a similar pattern. Overall, when compared to other districts in Seward County, Meadowlark’s proficiency index places it in the lowest range. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report, and chronic absenteeism data was not available in the data provided.
The district itself did not have recent parent-relevant changes flagged in available records, and no program offerings for Meadowlark were reported in the data. Information on special education and English learner support, discipline rates, staffing, and course access was also absent, so a parent with a child who receives specialized services or who wants to understand class sizes and teacher qualifications may want to look into this further with the school.
For a family considering Meadowlark, the picture that emerges is of a school serving a high-need population in a community with a strong industrial and agricultural base, where home values are low and the cost of living is manageable. The academic outcomes on state assessments are weak across all tested subjects and grades. A parent considering this school should expect to engage directly with building leadership about what academic interventions, enrichment, and support services are in place, as the publicly reported testing data alone does not offer evidence of strong grade-level proficiency. The school’s setting in a small, car-dependent High Plains city with a declining population and modest new industrial investment means the broader community context is stable but not growing.
See more original research from School Decision →