The top reported proficiency rate is 41% in English language arts. The lowest is 31% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Bickerdyke Elem
Bickerdyke Elementary sits in the small rural city of Russell, Kansas, the county seat of Russell County. The town’s economy draws on agriculture, wheat gluten and ethanol manufacturing, and petroleum drilling, and the city presents itself as the county’s regional center. The built environment is a compact Great Plains town: a traditional downtown grid with the county courthouse, library, and cultural center, surrounded by residential streets, with Interstate 70 and US highways passing along the southern edge. Housing values in the area are well below national and state benchmarks, and home prices have risen modestly in recent years. The school itself is located on North Maple Street, a short distance from the downtown core.
Bickerdyke serves grades 2 through 5 and is one of four public schools in the Russell County USD 407 district. Its enrollment is small and its student body is overwhelmingly white, with small shares of Hispanic students and students of two or more races. A substantial majority of students come from low-income households, based on the share qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the source material.
State testing results come from the Kansas Assessment Program and are reported for grades 3 through 6, even though the school’s current grade configuration ends at grade 5, so a parent may wish to confirm the full testing population. In math, proficiency rates vary noticeably by grade: around two in five students performed at or above the proficient level in grade 3, just under half in grade 4, roughly one in four in grade 5, and about three in ten in grade 6. In English language arts, grade 3 stood out with roughly three in five students proficient, while grade 4 and grade 5 showed lower rates near one in three and one in four respectively; grade 6 returned to above two in five. In science, only grade 5 is tested, and about three in ten students reached proficiency. These results describe a school where some early-grade reading performance is solid, but proficiency tends to drop in later elementary years, particularly in math and writing. The district brief turned up no major recent changes or strategic initiatives publicly reported for the district, so the overall academic direction appears stable without notable new programs or reforms.
The school’s small size means students likely receive individual attention, but the absence of program data—such as course offerings, arts, or extracurriculars—leaves a gap for families who want to know more about what lies beyond core academics. No information was available on staffing ratios, discipline rates, attendance patterns, or special education supports, all of which a parent would want to investigate directly with the school.
For a family considering this school, the picture is of a standard elementary school in a rural community with a modestly priced housing market and a stable local economy. The academic profile shows uneven performance across grades and subjects, with a particular soft spot in upper-elementary math and literacy that would merit a closer conversation with the principal about curriculum supports, intervention strategies, and how the school serves its majority low-income population. The predominantly white student body reflects the surrounding area’s demographics. Families who value a small-town setting, a school that is part of a single county district, and an affordable place to live may find Bickerdyke a reasonable fit, but those with children who need advanced enrichment or targeted intervention should ask the school directly about what is available, since the published data does not detail those areas.
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