Summit Trail Middle School, Olathe KS

Original Research by School Decision on Summit Trail Middle School

Summit Trail Middle School serves sixth through eighth grades in the Olathe school district, one of the largest suburban systems in Johnson County. The school sits within a sprawling, fast-growing city that is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area, an auto-oriented suburb with a mix of residential subdivisions and large employers such as Garmin, Honeywell, and Farmers Insurance. The district itself recently passed a bond issue to build a new elementary school and upgrade facilities, but it also voted to close three elementary schools due to budget constraints and declining enrollment, a shift that will redraw attendance boundaries and may affect feeder patterns for Summit Trail in the years ahead.

The student body is midsized and predominantly white, with notable shares of Hispanic and Black students and smaller numbers of Asian, multiracial, and other groups. Roughly a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a share that places the school in a moderate range for the area. The community context is one of relative affluence: home values and rents in the surrounding zip code run well above national medians, even as mortgage rates have ticked up recently, making the area a pricier option for families. The city has been growing rapidly and continues to add housing, though no major new developments were identified in public records.

On state assessments, Summit Trail’s results fall somewhat below the midpoint among Johnson County’s eight school districts when all tested subjects and grades are averaged together. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above sits around half at each grade level, with eighth graders slightly higher than sixth or seventh. In English language arts, the pattern is similar, with roughly half of students meeting the bar across grades. Science results for eighth graders also land in that general range. These numbers represent a single year’s snapshot and come after a change in the state’s cut scores for math and ELA, which makes direct year-over-year comparisons uncertain. A parent will want to look into how the school’s performance trend looks over a longer period, as the available data does not include multi-year comparisons.

No information is available on chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, staffing ratios, or special education and English learner populations. Because Summit Trail is a middle school, there is no graduation rate to report. The school does not appear to operate as a magnet or charter, and its Title I status is not listed. The absence of civil rights data and course access details limits a full picture of student support, but the district’s recent bond includes security upgrades and technology improvements, which may affect the school environment.

For families considering Summit Trail, the main takeaway is a school that sits within a well-resourced suburban district undergoing both investment and contraction, with academic proficiency that is solid but not among the top tier in a competitive county. The student body is economically and racially diverse relative to the surrounding area, and the school’s size is manageable for a middle school. A parent should explore the specific feeder paths from nearby elementary schools, especially given the upcoming boundary changes from the closures, and ask the school directly about enrichment offerings and support services that are not captured in the available data.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 649%

School 49% · District 52% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 745%

School 45% · District 49% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 49% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 653%

School 53% · District 50% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 749%

School 49% · District 52% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 854%

School 54% · District 49% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Science

Grade 851%

School 51% · District 48% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

This schoolOlathe, 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 6Lower-income27%Higher-income67%40 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income28%Higher-income59%31 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income36%Higher-income61%25 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income28%Higher-income61%33 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income24%Higher-income55%31 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income25%Higher-income67%43 pp gap