Overland Park Elem, Overland Park KS

Original Research by School Decision on Overland Park Elem

Overland Park Elementary serves students from preschool through sixth grade in the Shawnee Mission School District. It is a public school within a large suburban district, and its student body reflects the broader diversity of the southwest Kansas City metro area. The school sits in the heart of Overland Park, a fast-growing suburb that has seen decades of residential development and corporate investment, including the arrival of major technology and engineering firms. That growth has given the city a stable property tax base and a professional-class workforce, though the school itself draws from a neighborhood that includes a mix of incomes.

The student population is roughly half white, with a substantial Hispanic enrollment and smaller shares of Black, multiracial, and other groups. About half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that places the school above the district average in economic need. That figure alone tells a parent that while the surrounding city is affluent in the aggregate, the school serves a population with real variation in household resources. Special education and English learner data were not available in the source material, so a family with a child who has an individualized education plan or who is learning English would need to reach out to the school directly to understand the support structures in place.

State testing results from the most recent school year show a varied picture across grade levels and subjects. In math, proficiency rates at the third- and sixth-grade levels were close to the district median for those grades, while fourth grade was weaker. In English language arts, third grade was the strongest grade, with a majority of students meeting the state standard, while fourth grade saw a notable drop. Science results were available only for fifth grade and showed about a third of students proficient. The overall proficiency index across all tested grades and subjects places Overland Park Elementary in the bottom quartile among districts in Johnson County. That comparison set is an important one: Johnson County is home to some of the state’s highest-performing districts, so being in the lower quarter of that group does not mean the school is failing, but it does mean a family accustomed to the top-tier outcomes found in neighboring districts may find the academic profile here softer.

The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. There is no data on chronic absenteeism or discipline rates, which are gaps a family may want to fill by talking to the principal or visiting the school.

On the program side, the district itself has made a lasting investment in career and college-preparatory pathways called Signature Programs, such as biotechnology, engineering, and medical health sciences, but these are housed at the high school level and the Center for Academic Achievement. For a family with a younger child, the immediate classroom experience is what matters most: a neighborhood elementary school serving a diverse enrollment in a mid-century suburban setting. The building sits on Santa Fe Drive, the historic spine of the original downtown, in a part of Overland Park where the housing stock is older than the newer subdivisions farther south. Homes in the school’s attendance area are priced at a level that is elevated relative to the national median but more accessible than the highest-end neighborhoods in Blue Valley or Leawood, making this a plausible option for a family seeking a solidly middle-market entry into Johnson County’s public schools without the premium housing costs of the top-tier districts.

A parent weighing Overland Park Elementary should consider that the academic results are uneven, with some grades showing promise and others lagging, and that the school sits in a county where many nearby schools post stronger numbers. That does not make it a poor choice, but it does mean a family should visit, observe instruction, and ask about how the school supports students who are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks. The school’s size is modest for its grade band, which can be an advantage for families who want a setting where their child is known by name and where a smaller staff-to-student ratio may allow for more individual attention. The building itself, the surrounding neighborhood, and the larger district’s stability all count as plain assets. The test scores, especially the fourth-grade dip in both math and English, are the questions a family should bring to the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 346%

School 46% · District 53% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 428%

School 28% · District 57% · ▼ 29 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 37 pts below county median

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 58% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 645%

School 45% · District 58% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 357%

School 57% · District 60% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 62% · ▼ 29 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 35 pts below county median

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 63% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Grade 646%

School 46% · District 59% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 54% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

This schoolShawnee Mission Pub Sch, 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 3Lower-income20%Higher-income85%65 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income23%Higher-income45%22 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income39%Higher-income43%4 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income26%Higher-income66%40 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income14%Higher-income73%60 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income22%Higher-income35%13 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income34%Higher-income39%5 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income25%Higher-income66%41 pp gap