Prairie Star Middle, Leawood KS - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Prairie Star Middle

Prairie Star Middle sits in Leawood, a largely residential suburb of Johnson County, and serves grades six through eight as part of the Blue Valley district. The school’s student body is small for a middle school, and the community it draws from is notably affluent: a very small share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Racially, the student population is predominantly white, with a sizable Asian American cohort and small shares of Hispanic, Black, multiracial, and Native American students. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the materials reviewed.

On state assessments, Prairie Star posts strong results across the board. In both math and English language arts, proficiency rates for each grade level are above the state average, with seventh-grade math and sixth-grade English reaching particularly high marks. Eighth-grade science results are also solid. The school’s overall proficiency index places it well above the midpoint among districts in Johnson County, in the top quartile of that set. These are consistent, high-level outcomes. Because Kansas changed its cut scores for the 2024-25 testing year, year-over-year comparisons are not possible from the data provided, so a parent should treat this year’s numbers as a new baseline rather than a trend line.

The school environment data, including chronic absenteeism and discipline, was not available in the materials provided, so a reader interested in those topics would need to follow up with the school or district directly.

Leawood itself is a car-dependent suburb without a traditional downtown; commercial life is organized around shopping centers along main corridors. The housing market reflects the area’s affluence, with home values well above national and state medians. The city is largely built out, so future growth is expected to come from infill and redevelopment rather than large-scale new construction.

The Blue Valley district has made several changes that matter to families. Voters approved a bond issue in 2023 that funds facility improvements, safety upgrades, and technology without increasing the mill levy. The district also introduced a new K-5 literacy curriculum based on the science of reading, which is now in place district-wide. A new elementary school, Aspen Grove, opened for the 2024-25 school year in the southern part of the district, which shifted attendance boundaries in that area. The board has held the mill levy steady for three consecutive years.

For a family looking at Prairie Star Middle, the picture is straightforward: this is a school with strong academic performance in a wealthy, stable suburb. The student body is not economically diverse, and the school does not serve a high-needs population in the ways many schools do. The surrounding housing market is expensive, and the district has been investing in its facilities and curriculum while keeping property taxes flat. A family considering this school should feel confident in the academic outcomes but should also understand the demographic and economic context they are buying into. If a parent has specific questions about student supports, discipline, or how the school serves students who are not already at grade level, those are worth raising directly with the school, as the available data does not speak to them.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 672%

School 72% · District 71% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 783%

School 83% · District 70% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 48 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 869%

School 69% · District 69%

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 681%

School 81% · District 71% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 39 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 776%

School 76% · District 70% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 36 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 872%

School 72% · District 69% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 35 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Science

Grade 867%

School 67% · District 66%

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

This schoolBlue Valley, 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-income70%Higher-income81%11 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income43%Higher-income80%37 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income47%Higher-income75%29 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income60%Higher-income73%13 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income71%Higher-income84%12 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income27%Higher-income74%47 pp gap