The top reported proficiency rate is 26% in Math. The lowest is 22% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Norton Jr High
Norton Jr High serves seventh and eighth graders in the Norton Community Schools district, a small rural county-seat system in northwest Kansas. The school building sits on North Jones Street in a compact town where most destinations are close, the median home value is well below the state average, and the local housing market has seen a slight year-over-year dip. For families considering this school, the underlying context matters: Norton is a community of modest size, losing population slowly, with a homeownership rate that reflects its stable, small-town character. The school itself enrolls just over a hundred students, with roughly equal numbers in seventh and eighth grades. The student body is overwhelmingly white. More than half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a signal that poverty is a factor in many households here.
State assessment results from the Kansas Assessment Program, covering the most recent testing year, show that proficiency rates across subjects are well below state norms. In math, the seventh-grade proficiency rate was below average, and the eighth-grade rate was markedly lower still. In English language arts, just over a quarter of seventh graders scored proficient, and slightly fewer than that among eighth graders. On the eighth-grade science test, about one in five students reached the proficient level. Kansas uses a proficiency index that averages scores across subjects and grades, and on that measure Norton Jr High landed in the bottom quartile when compared to the other districts in Norton County. The county comparison is a very small set, with only two districts, so the gap between the two is large. The school itself has no trend data available from prior years because Kansas changed its cut scores for math, English language arts, and science, making year-over-year comparisons unreliable for this testing cycle. A parent looking at these results should know that the assessment is the standard statewide test and that the school's performance is an area worth discussing directly with the principal or district office.
The school offers only two grade levels, so there is no graduation rate, no four-year cohort to track. Because it is a junior high, program offerings like Advanced Placement, career-technical pathways, or electives are not part of the state data provided. No information on special education enrollment or English learner status was available for this school. Discipline data, course access, and staffing ratios were also absent from the public records we could review. Those are gaps a parent would want to fill by talking to the school or district about class sizes, intervention supports, and what kind of elective or exploratory courses are available to seventh and eighth graders.
The district itself, Norton Community Schools, appears stable but did not have any recent publicly reported changes or strategic initiatives flagged in the search. The city of Norton is a traditional rural county seat, with a downtown centered on the courthouse and city hall, and schools spread across town rather than on a single campus. The local economy rests on county government, the school district, and agriculture; Keith Sebelius Reservoir and Prairie Dog State Park, a few miles west, are the main recreational draws. Housing costs are low relative to the state, and the local median household income has slipped in recent years, consistent with the area's slight population decline.
For whom does this school fit? A family looking at Norton Jr High is looking at a small, rural junior high where the student body is largely homogeneous and where a substantial share of families are managing on modest incomes. The building is old, with a known remodeling date in the past, and the town is tight-knit with low housing costs. Academically, the school is struggling on state assessments relative to even its small county peer group, and a prospective parent will want to understand what the school is doing to address that, what interventions are in place for students who are behind, and whether the district has plans or resources to change the trajectory. The data does not show whether strong individual programs or teacher quality offset the test scores; those are questions only a visit and a conversation can answer.
See more original research from School Decision →