Valley Falls Elem, Valley Falls KS

Original Research by School Decision on Valley Falls Elem

Valley Falls Elementary serves students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, a single-campus school in the small rural Jefferson County town of Valley Falls. The school is part of the Valley Falls district, which also operates a separate high school for grades nine through twelve, so elementary students continue on to a familiar secondary building after eighth grade.

The student body is predominantly white, with a modest share of Hispanic students and a very small number of students identifying as two or more races, Black, or American Indian. More than a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that a substantial portion of families in this community work with moderate or lower incomes. The school is not a charter and does not have magnet status.

The town itself is compact and tree-lined, with historic brick streets and a small downtown of antique shops and local eateries. It sits within the Topeka metropolitan area, though it feels distinctly separate. Outdoor recreation is accessible through the Delaware River and nearby Perry Reservoir, and the town promotes itself as a quiet, pleasant residential community. The population has been declining over recent decades, a trend reflected in many rural Kansas towns; no major new housing or commercial development was noted in available public sources.

On state assessments administered through the Kansas Assessment Program, performance varies notably by grade level and subject. In reading, third graders post a strong proficiency rate, but the share of students meeting the bar drops considerably by fifth and sixth grades, with seventh grade showing a low rate and eighth grade recovering somewhat. Math results follow a similar pattern: third and fourth graders test at moderate rates, while fifth and sixth grades are lower, and seventh grade shows a particularly soft spot. Eighth-grade math proficiency is modest. Science scores for fifth and eighth graders are also modest. The state changed its cut scores for these assessments in recent years, so direct comparisons to prior years are not reliable.

When placed against other districts in Jefferson County, Valley Falls Elementary sits in the bottom quartile on an overall proficiency index that averages results across all tested grades and subjects. This comparison is based on the school-level proficiency index relative to the other districts in the county. No chronic absenteeism data or graduation rate data are available for this school; because it serves only through eighth grade, those metrics do not apply here.

The district brief showed no evidence of recent curriculum changes, facility referendums, property-tax shifts, or other major developments that would alter a family's sense of the school's direction. A parent considering this school will want to look into the specific supports the school offers for students who are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks in the middle grades, particularly in math and reading, where the proficiency drop-off is most apparent. The elementary grades appear to be a relative strength, especially early reading, while the middle school years present a challenge the school will need to address. For families who value a small-town, single-campus environment where their child can remain in the same building from pre-K through eighth grade, Valley Falls Elementary offers that continuity, but the academic outcomes for the upper grades are an area worth exploring further with the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 346%

School 46% · District 46%

▲ 5 pts above state median

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 52%

▲ 12 pts above state median

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 33%

▼ 7 pts below state median

Grade 634%

School 34% · District 34%

▼ 6 pts below state median

Grade 711%

School 11% · District 11%

▼ 23 pts below state median

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 30%

▼ 4 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 371%

School 71% · District 71%

▲ 18 pts above state median

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 52%

▲ 4 pts above state median

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 21%

▼ 29 pts below state median

Grade 625%

School 25% · District 25%

▼ 17 pts below state median

Grade 719%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 22 pts below state median

Grade 837%

School 37% · District 37%

even with state median

Science

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 15 pts below state median

Grade 833%

School 33% · District 33%

▼ 3 pts below state median

This schoolValley Falls, 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-income20%Higher-income29%9 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income9%Higher-income25%16 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income7%Higher-income59%52 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income9%Higher-income13%3 pp gap