Piper Middle, Kansas City KS - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Piper Middle

Piper Middle serves grades six through eight in the Piper-Kansas City district, located in the Kansas City, Kansas area. The school sits within a mid-sized city that is part of the larger Kansas City metropolitan area, a place with a working-class heritage and a mix of residential and industrial zones. The district itself is growing quickly, publicly reported as the third-fastest growing in Kansas, with enrollment rising annually for an extended period. Voters approved a bond issue in early 2022 to fund major facility improvements and a new high school, a direct response to overcrowding that has affected all buildings. That growth context matters for a family considering this area, as the district is actively reshaping its physical capacity.

Piper Middle serves a student body that is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic population and smaller shares of Black and Asian students. About a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that is lower than many districts in the county. The school is not a charter and does not have a magnet designation. Data on special education and English learner populations was not available in the provided records.

On state assessments, Piper Middle’s results show a mixed picture. In English language arts, proficiency rates across grades six through eight cluster around the midpoint, with the highest rate in seventh grade and the lowest in eighth grade. Math proficiency rates are lower across all three grades, with eighth grade showing the weakest performance. Science results for eighth graders are the lowest of any tested subject and grade. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages results across all tested subjects and grades, places it in the top quartile relative to other districts in Wyandotte County. That is a meaningful distinction within the county, though the absolute rates themselves suggest that a substantial share of students are not yet meeting the state’s proficiency benchmarks. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly in math and science, where the numbers are softer.

The school serves grades six through eight, so there is no graduation rate to report. Data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, and staffing was not available in the provided records. The school is not a charter and does not have a magnet designation. Information on program offerings, such as advanced coursework or electives, was also absent from the data.

Housing in the area around the school carries a home value that is above the state median, and rents are slightly below the estimated monthly mortgage cost, which may make renting a more accessible option for some families. The national unemployment rate and median household income figures are provided for context, but local economic data specific to this part of Kansas City was not available.

For a family considering Piper Middle, the key takeaway is a school in a district that is actively growing and investing in its facilities, with academic results that are above the county average but still show room for improvement, particularly in math and science. The student body is economically diverse but less so than many other schools in the county. The school is a straightforward public middle school without special designations, and the district’s growth trajectory means that the facilities and class sizes a family experiences today may look different in a few years.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 643%

School 43% · District 43%

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 30 pts above county median

Grade 743%

School 43% · District 43%

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

Grade 839%

School 39% · District 39%

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 30 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 650%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

Grade 754%

School 54% · District 54%

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Grade 843%

School 43% · District 43%

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 29 pts above county median

Science

Grade 835%

School 35% · District 35%

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

This schoolPiper-Kansas City, 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-income38%Higher-income54%16 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income34%Higher-income61%27 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income30%Higher-income48%18 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income36%Higher-income47%11 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income27%Higher-income49%23 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income28%Higher-income44%16 pp gap