The top reported proficiency rate is 49% in English language arts. The lowest is 35% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Circle Middle School
Circle Middle School serves seventh and eighth graders from the Circle school district, a system that draws students from the small, growing bedroom communities of Benton, Towanda, and the surrounding rural parts of Butler County. The school is physically located in Benton, a predominantly residential town roughly a half-hour’s drive northeast of Wichita, and it sits along the K‑254 highway corridor that connects residents to jobs in Wichita, Andover, and El Dorado. Benton itself has a population in the low thousands and has been adding housing: a recent market study projects demand for dozens of new units, and the city’s comprehensive plan calls for more single-family and multi-family neighborhoods. The middle school was built here a couple of decades ago when the district’s earlier schools became overcrowded, a reflection of the area’s steady growth as a commuter hub. Students at Circle Middle School move on to Circle High School in Towanda after eighth grade.
The school’s enrollment is small, typical for a two-grade building in a rural-edge district. The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population that is the next largest group and small shares of Black, multiracial, and other backgrounds. More than a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a level that places the school in a moderate-to-high range for economic need among Kansas schools. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the state reporting, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about how those populations are served.
State test results for the 2024-25 school year show a mixed picture. On the Kansas Assessment Program (KAP), about half of seventh graders and a slightly smaller share of eighth graders met proficiency in English language arts. In math, just over a third of both grades reached the proficient level. Science, tested only in eighth grade, came in at about the same rate as math. These proficiency rates place Circle Middle School below the midpoint among districts in Butler County when looking at overall performance across tested subjects. The state changed its cut scores for the math and English tests that year, which makes direct comparisons with prior years less reliable, but the current numbers suggest that a majority of students are not yet reaching the state’s bar for grade-level work in math and science, while English results are closer to a roughly even split.
Because the school serves only middle grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and data on chronic absenteeism was not available in the state’s reporting.
The school does not have the kind of program offerings that generate a separate catalog on this page, and the district brief did not turn up any recent major changes in leadership, boundaries, or programming. That may simply mean things are stable. There was no publicly reported information on discipline rates, staffing ratios, or course access. A parent interested in any of those areas would need to follow up with the school directly.
For families considering Benton or the surrounding area, the housing market is a practical factor. The typical home value in the zip code is above the Kansas state average, and monthly mortgage costs would be somewhat higher than rent in the area, a gap that matters for first-time buyers weighing affordability. Benton is a car-dependent town; there is no public transit, and nearly everyone drives to work, with a commute that averages around half an hour.
Circle Middle School is a straightforward, mid-sized middle school in a growing exurban community where the test results lag the county median. It serves a population that is economically mixed and largely white, with a visible Latino presence. The academic picture has clear soft spots in math and science that a prospective parent would want to explore: what the school is doing to address those gaps, how it supports students who arrive below grade level, and what enrichment looks like for those who are already proficient.
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