The top reported proficiency rate is 38% in Math. The lowest is 32% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on North Lawn Elem
North Lawn Elementary sits at the corner of Granby Street in Neodesha, a small rural city with a manufacturing heritage and a town council actively trying to attract and keep families. The school serves kindergarten through seventh grade, but the enrollment pattern is unusual: the student body is heavily concentrated in grades four, five, and six, while kindergarten through third grade have only a handful of students between them, and grade seven appears to be unserved. This may reflect where families in the district choose to send younger children or how the district configures its elementary buildings. The total enrollment is relatively small for the grade band it covers.
The student population is predominantly white, with small shares of Black and Hispanic students and a modest share of students who identify as two or more races. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a marker that the school serves a community with significant economic need. Data on special education and English learner populations was not available.
On the Kansas state assessments, the results show a clear pattern. In fourth grade, about a quarter of students met the state’s proficiency bar in math, and two out of every five students did so in English language arts. By fifth grade, the math rate climbed to a share that was higher than the fourth-grade level, but the fifth-grade English rate dropped to roughly one in four students meeting the mark. Sixth graders posted the strongest math results among the tested grades, with close to half of students reaching proficiency, while sixth-grade English came in at about three in ten. Science, tested only in fifth grade, saw a bit more than a third of students proficient. These figures are broadly below statewide averages, a parent may want to discuss with the school what academic supports are in place, especially given the sharp dip in fifth-grade reading. The state changed its testing cut scores for the 2024-25 year, so direct comparisons to prior years are not reliable.
When placed against the other districts in Wilson County, North Lawn Elementary’s combined proficiency index across tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint among the county’s three districts. That means students here perform stronger than at least one of the neighboring systems, but the county is small, so the range is narrow and the top performer is not far ahead.
The school itself is a standard public elementary within the Neodesha district. No charter or magnet designation applies, and Title I status was not reported. No program offerings, course access data, or staffing ratios were available in the data provided.
Housing in the area is distinctly affordable compared to state and national benchmarks. Home values in the zip code are well below the Kansas median, though they have seen a modest year-over-year decline. The estimated monthly mortgage payment on a median-priced home is low, which, combined with a high share of students qualifying for meal aid, paints a picture of a community where housing costs are manageable but household incomes are under pressure. The national unemployment rate at the time of this profile was moderate.
Neodesha itself is actively investing in its own future. Publicly reported initiatives include a resident attraction program that offers student loan repayment assistance and state income tax waivers, as well as the Neodesha Promise Scholarship, which provides renewable tuition and book funding for qualifying high school graduates. New housing developments are underway, and the city has plans for a hotel renovation and a retail hub. For a family considering a move, these efforts suggest a town that is trying to reverse population loss and create opportunity, but the academic results at North Lawn indicate that the school is still working to lift achievement to the level many parents would hope for.
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