The top reported proficiency rate is 80% in Science. The lowest is 58% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on West Bourbon Elementary
West Bourbon Elementary serves students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in Uniontown, a very small rural community in Bourbon County, Kansas. The school is the elementary arm of the Uniontown school district, which operates just two schools in this compact town. For a family considering this area, the peer environment at West Bourbon is predominantly white, and a substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic realities of the community. Enrollment is moderate for a rural elementary, with classes across each grade from kindergarten through sixth grade of roughly similar size and a pre-kindergarten program that adds younger children to the mix.
The academic picture comes from Kansas state assessments administered in the most recent school year. In mathematics, proficiency rates ranged across grades from about half of students meeting the bar in third and fourth grades to a stronger showing in fifth grade and a still solid result in sixth grade. In English language arts, the pattern was similar: roughly half of students were proficient in fourth and sixth grades, with a higher share in third grade and again a notably stronger result in fifth grade. Fifth graders also took the state science assessment, and the share of students reaching proficiency was higher than in either math or reading for that grade. These results should be read with some caution because the state changed its cut scores for these tests, which means year-over-year trends cannot be reliably compared until a few years of consistent scoring accumulate.
A comparison with other districts in Bourbon County placed West Bourbon Elementary above the midpoint when looking at overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades. With only two districts in the county, however, that position simply tells you the school’s composite score was the higher of the two. The data does not include chronic absenteeism rates or other school climate measures, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about attendance and discipline patterns.
The community of Uniontown is small and primarily residential, with a declining population over recent decades. Housing is relatively affordable by national standards, and the local economy offers limited employment, mostly in manufacturing, education, and construction; many residents commute to work outside town. The school building itself is located within the town rather than on a separate campus, and the town’s small footprint means most places are a short distance from the school. No major new housing developments or commercial projects were identified in publicly available sources, suggesting a stable or slowly shrinking context. The school district has not had any recent bond elections or curriculum overhauls that cleared the threshold of a lasting impact, so families should not expect dramatic changes in facilities or programming in the near term.
The available information does not include details about program offerings such as art, music, or extracurricular activities, nor does it report on staffing ratios or special education and English learner populations. A parent should contact the school for that kind of detail. What is clear is that West Bourbon Elementary is a small rural school serving a predominantly low-income student body, with academic results that are strongest in fifth-grade science and more mixed in math and reading across the other grades.
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