Nickerson Elem, Nickerson KS - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Nickerson Elem

Nickerson Elementary serves children from prekindergarten through sixth grade in the rural city of Nickerson, Kansas. The school is part of the Nickerson public school district. The town itself is a small agricultural community in Reno County, with a compact street grid, a public library, a park with a splash pad and sports courts, and a downtown centered on City Hall. Grain elevators and the Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad are visible parts of the local landscape. A new limited-access freeway was completed east of town in 2023, replacing the previous highway route that ran through the center of Nickerson. Population counts have been relatively stable with a slight decline in recent years.

Enrollment at Nickerson Elementary is on the smaller side for a school serving these grade levels. The student body is predominantly white, with a much smaller share of Hispanic students, an even smaller share of students who identify as two or more races, and a very small share of Black students. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, meaning the school serves a population with considerable economic need. Data on students with individualized education plans and English learners was not available.

State testing results show a pattern that shifts notably by grade level. In math, a modest share of third graders scored at the proficient level or above. The fourth-grade math proficiency was similar. In fifth and sixth grades, however, the share of students reaching proficiency was much higher, approaching a strong majority. In English language arts, the pattern was comparable: third-grade proficiency was around the midpoint, fourth grade was lower, fifth grade showed a very high share of proficient students, and sixth grade was above the midpoint but lower than the fifth-grade peak. Science is tested only in fifth grade, and in that grade the share of students scoring proficient was very strong.

The school’s overall proficiency picture, looking across all tested subjects and grades, places it in the top quartile among districts in Reno County. That is an encouraging position relative to its immediate neighbors. At the same time, the wide variation by grade level within the building means that a family’s experience of academic rigor will depend heavily on which grade their child is in. The very strong results in fifth grade, and the strong results in sixth grade math, suggest that some cohorts or instructional approaches are working well for older elementary students. The weaker results in the younger tested grades, particularly in fourth-grade English language arts and third- and fourth-grade math, are areas a parent may want to ask the school about directly.

The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. There was no data available on chronic absenteeism, discipline, course access, or staffing. The district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes such as boundary shifts, program additions, or leadership turnover; publicly reported information on such topics was not found. A family considering Nickerson Elementary will find a school with an economically diverse student body, a proficiency record that is generally strong for the county but uneven within the building, and a setting in a small agricultural town with limited commercial activity and a quiet, residential character.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 37% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 40% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 578%

School 78% · District 58% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 38 pts above state median · ▲ 37 pts above county median

Grade 678%

School 78% · District 36% · ▲ 42 pts above district

▲ 37 pts above state median · ▲ 56 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 348%

School 48% · District 59% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 437%

School 37% · District 39% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 583%

School 83% · District 58% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 33 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

Grade 659%

School 59% · District 35% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Science

Grade 587%

School 87% · District 64% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 43 pts above state median · ▲ 45 pts above county median

This schoolNickerson, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 4Lower-income40%Higher-income30%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income85%Higher-income80%5 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income71%Higher-income46%25 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income30%Higher-income40%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income77%Higher-income80%3 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income79%Higher-income77%2 pp gap