The top reported proficiency rate is 20% in English language arts. The lowest is 6% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Enterprise Elem
Enterprise Elem serves kindergarten through fifth grade in south Wichita, a part of the Wichita public school district. It is a neighborhood school serving a community that is a mix of older housing stock and working-class industrial areas. The school is located near the southern edge of the city, an area shaped by the ebb and flow of Wichita's aerospace manufacturing economy, which means many families here have ties to an industry sensitive to national economic cycles.
The school's student body is about as racially and ethnically diverse as any in the district. White students and Hispanic students each make up a similar share of the enrollment, with a smaller but still meaningful presence of Black students, students who identify as two or more races, and a small number of Asian students. A very large share of students at Enterprise qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the overwhelming majority of families here are navigating economic constraints. This is a school where the practical challenges of poverty touch most classrooms.
State testing results from the most recent school year show that proficiency rates in math are low across all tested grade levels. The same is true for English language arts and for the one tested science grade. Across the board, the share of students meeting state standards was well below the midpoint of elementary schools in Wichita. The Kansas state testing system had a change in its cut scores that year, making a direct comparison to prior years unreliable. A parent considering this school will want to look into what the school is doing to raise these numbers, and the school itself will be the best source for how it plans to accelerate student growth. Publicly reported improvement strategies or specific interventions were not available from the data and would be worth asking about directly.
The school offers a standard prekindergarten program, which is an important entry point for early childhood education in a high-needs community. The elementary program runs through fifth grade, after which students would move on to a Wichita middle school. The school is not a charter or magnet school, so there are no special admissions requirements.
Housing in the zip code covering Enterprise Elem is priced below the typical home in the state of Kansas and well below the national median. Rents follow a similar pattern, making the area a more affordable entry point into Wichita. The monthly cost of renting is lower than the estimated mortgage payment on a median-priced home in the area, which may factor into a family's planning for stability.
No data was available on chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, or the school's staffing ratios. A parent may want to ask the school directly about these dimensions, as they are often tied to the academic challenges seen in the testing data. Information on teacher experience, class sizes, and the availability of specialists or intervention programs was also not present in the data.
Enterprise Elem is a school serving a high-poverty community where state test scores are low and the student population reflects the diversity of south Wichita. A family considering this school will want to have a direct conversation with the principal about the school's response to its academic standing. The housing market in the immediate area is affordable relative to the rest of the state, which may be a practical consideration.
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