The top reported proficiency rate is 31% in English language arts. The lowest is 20% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Washington Accelerated Learning Elem
Washington Accelerated Learning Elementary is a public school in the Wichita school district serving students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. The school’s name signals an academic focus, though no specific program details were available in the data to describe what accelerated learning looks like in practice.
The student body is diverse. A large share of students are of Hispanic background, with substantial Black and White populations and a smaller Asian group. A very high proportion of students come from low-income households, as measured by eligibility for free or reduced-price meals. The school’s enrollment is sizable for an elementary school, filling most grade sections with a balanced distribution across kindergarten through fifth grade.
State assessment results are available for the most recent testing year, but the data comes with a complication. Kansas changed its testing cut scores in that year, making it difficult to compare these results with prior years. With that caveat, the proficiency rates in math, English language arts, and science are low. Across tested grades, roughly a quarter of third and fourth graders showed proficiency in English language arts, and around a third of third and fourth graders did so in math, while fifth-grade rates in both subjects were lower. Science results for fifth graders were below these levels as well. The school’s overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile of elementary schools across Sedgwick County, a context that a parent may want to discuss further with the school to understand how the staff is addressing these academic outcomes.
Wichita, the city where the school sits, is Kansas’s largest and its economy is dominated by aerospace manufacturing, with major employers like Spirit AeroSystems and Textron Aviation. The school’s attendance zone lies within the city itself, not one of the surrounding suburbs. Housing in the school’s zip code is well below the state and national averages, especially the typical home value, and rents are much lower than in many other parts of the country, reflecting the neighborhood’s affordability. The wider housing market in Sedgwick County has seen modest price growth recently, and the national unemployment rate has been steady, though these macro figures are less specific to the immediate area around the school.
The district brief, which typically would provide recent news on budget changes, school board decisions, or program shifts for Wichita Public Schools, did not return any usable information. A parent should check the district’s own communications for any recent developments that could affect the school’s resources or direction.
Because this is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to report, and no chronic absenteeism data was available in the provided materials. The school does not appear to have a magnet or charter designation, so it operates as a traditional neighborhood school within the district.
For a family considering Washington Accelerated Learning, the takeaway is a school with a stated accelerated approach that serves a high-poverty, diverse student body in a low-cost urban neighborhood, but whose state test results are substantially below county averages. A parent would want to visit, ask about the accelerated program’s specifics, and learn what strategies the school is using to lift academic performance.
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