The top reported proficiency rate is 35% in English language arts. The lowest is 24% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Syracuse High
Syracuse High serves grades seven through twelve in a small rural county seat in western Kansas, about a short drive from the Colorado border. It is the only high school in Hamilton County and sits within a community that has seen its population hold steady for roughly two decades. The town’s central features include a traditional Main Street with city hall and the county courthouse, the Arkansas River running just south of town, and the Syracuse Sand Dunes park with a fishing pond. The surrounding area is agricultural, and the housing market reflects a modest decline in home values over the past year, though the national comparison is not available from the data. Housing costs here are below the state average, and the estimated monthly mortgage payment on a typical home is manageable relative to the national median household income.
The student body of just over two hundred is split roughly evenly between Hispanic and White students, with a very small number of Native American and multiracial students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Information on special education and English learner populations is not reported in the data, which is a gap a family may want to explore directly with the school. The school is not a charter and does not appear to have magnet or Title I status listed.
Academic performance data is available only for the middle school grades. In seventh and eighth grade math, the share of students scoring at proficient or above is below where many schools in the state land. In English language arts, the seventh grade results are notably higher than the eighth grade, but both are in a range that families should examine carefully against their own expectations. Eighth grade science results are similar to the math profile. The state changed the cut scores for these assessments, which means the numbers cannot be directly compared to prior years, so recent trends are not clear. No high school state assessment results are reported in the data; this is not unusual for a school that serves grades seven through twelve, but a parent interested in how juniors or seniors perform on statewide tests would want to ask the school directly.
The school offers a full range of grades on one campus, so students do not have to transition to a separate high school building after eighth grade. The locale brief notes that the district serves the community, and the school mascot is the Bulldogs. No information about Advanced Placement courses, career and technical education pathways, dual-credit offerings, or extracurricular programs is available in the data. Families looking for a detailed academic catalog would need to consult the school’s website or call the office.
The community itself is stable with no major growth pressures. The housing stock is relatively affordable, and the town functions as both a residential community and the county seat, so local government and agriculture are likely economic anchors, though specific major employers are not named in the available sources. The school environment appears to be typical of a small rural district: one school serving the whole secondary population, a single feeder pattern, and a setting where teachers and students know one another.
Syracuse High fits a family seeking a small, rural secondary school where students stay in the same building from middle school through graduation. The test results in the middle grades are soft, and the lack of high school assessment data and program details means a prospective parent should plan a visit and ask about academic expectations at the upper levels. The housing market is modest, the town is quiet, and the peer group is roughly half Hispanic and half White with a high proportion of students from lower-income households. The absence of a graduation rate in the data is worth noting; a family may want to confirm that figure with the district.
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