The top reported proficiency rate is 19% in English language arts. The lowest is 7% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Harry Street Elem
Harry Street Elementary serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as part of the Wichita public school district, the largest in Kansas. The school is located in a south-central neighborhood of Wichita, a city whose economy is built around aircraft manufacturing and a regional service hub role, with a car-dependent layout and a downtown core that has seen recent investment in parks, a food truck development, and public transit improvements. The school’s enrollment is moderate for an elementary building, and the student body is predominantly Hispanic, with white students as the next largest group, followed by Black students and smaller shares of students who are multiracial, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. A very high share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a community with widespread economic need.
State assessment results, drawn from the Kansas Assessment Program, show low proficiency rates in reading, math, and science across the tested grade levels. In third-grade English language arts, roughly one in four students scored proficient or above. By fourth grade that figure edged up slightly, but in fifth grade it dropped to a very small share. Math proficiency rates were lower across the board and declined with each successive grade, with a small percentage of fourth graders reaching proficient levels and an even smaller share of fifth graders doing so. Fifth-grade science results were similarly low. The assessment data comes from the most recent school year, though the state changed its cut scores for math and English language arts in this period, making direct comparisons with prior years uncertain. The school’s overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among elementary schools in Sedgwick County.
Harry Street Elementary is not a charter school. Details on whether it receives Title I funding were not available in the data provided, and no information was supplied about its magnet status, disciplinary patterns, staffing ratios, attendance rates, or course access. Data on the share of students with disabilities or who are English learners was also missing, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about how it supports those populations. Because the school serves only through fifth grade, there is no graduation rate to report.
Housing in the school’s ZIP code is notably more affordable than the state average, with home values well below the Kansas benchmark and rents slightly below the national rent-to-income ratio. This aligns with a city that has seen modest population growth and where surrounding suburban communities have absorbed much of the newer residential development.
For a family considering Harry Street Elementary, the picture is straightforward. This is a neighborhood school serving a high-poverty community, and the state test results suggest that most students are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks in reading, math, or science. A parent looking at this school would want to understand what academic interventions, tutoring, or enrichment programs are available, and whether the school has seen any recent changes in curriculum or instruction aimed at raising achievement. The school’s place within the larger Wichita district means that families have access to the district’s broader offerings, but at this building the core academic outcomes are a clear area of concern.
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