The top reported proficiency rate is 74% in English language arts. The lowest is 54% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Stilwell Elementary
Stilwell Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade as part of the Blue Valley School District in an unincorporated corner of Johnson County that is changing fast. The area around the school was built on sod farms and large agricultural lots, but suburban residential neighborhoods connected to Overland Park’s growth have been spreading in. New subdivisions are appearing, and land values have risen. The setting remains low-density, with large residential lots and minimal street life, which is what many families moving here are looking for. The school sits on its own campus, separate from the historic downtown area that grew up near the old railroad line.
The enrollment is small for an elementary school, with roughly the same number of students across each grade from kindergarten through fifth. The student body is predominantly white, with a small share identifying as Hispanic, a small share as Black, and very small shares as Asian or multiracial, and there is a tiny presence of Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. A modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on special education and English learner populations was not available in the source materials, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about supports in those areas.
On state assessments administered through the Kansas Assessment Program, the school’s results varied by grade and subject. In English language arts, the third-grade cohort showed a strong share of students scoring at proficient or above, fourth-grade students performed at a solid level, and fifth-grade students posted a notably high rate. In math, third graders and fourth graders both performed at solid levels, while fifth graders had a noticeably lower share meeting proficiency. In science, tested only at fifth grade, the rate sat at a moderate level. Kansas changed its cut scores for both English language arts and math in this testing cycle, which means these results cannot be directly compared to prior years. Even so, the overall proficiency picture at Stilwell Elementary places the school in the top quarter of elementary schools across Johnson County when averaged across all tested subjects and grades. That is a strong position relative to its peers in the county.
Because Stilwell is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to report. There were also no data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, or staffing ratios in the source materials.
The district that runs Stilwell, Blue Valley, has been active on several fronts that matter to current and prospective families. Voters approved a bond issue in 2023 that is funding facility improvements, safety and security upgrades, and technology enhancements across the district over the coming years, and the district says it did so without raising the mill levy. The board adopted a new elementary literacy curriculum for K-5 classrooms that is aligned with the science of reading and was rolled out districtwide starting in the 2024-25 school year, following a pilot. A new elementary school, Aspen Grove, opened in the southern part of the district for the 2024-25 school year, a sign that enrollment growth is reshaping attendance boundaries in some areas. The district also approved its 2024-25 budget with no mill levy increase for the third year in a row, which keeps property tax rates steady.
For a family considering Stilwell Elementary, the picture is of a small school in a fast-growing suburban-rural area, serving a largely homogeneous student body, with academic results that are generally strong and that rank high within Johnson County. The fifth-grade math score is a soft spot that might warrant a conversation with the school about how the upper elementary math sequence is structured and how students are prepared for middle school. The literacy curriculum change districtwide suggests that all elementary students, including those at Stilwell, are working under a newer, more structured approach to reading instruction. The bond-funded facility and safety upgrades also mean that the physical school environment is likely to see improvements in the near term. This is a school that fits a family seeking a relatively small, academically solid elementary option in a growing suburban edge community with low density and a strong district reputation, though anyone interested in a more socioeconomically or racially diverse setting may find the student composition notably narrow.
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