The top reported proficiency rate is 25% in English language arts. The lowest is 7% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Ortiz Elementary School
Ortiz Elementary School serves prekindergarten through fifth grade in north Wichita. It is part of Wichita Public Schools, Kansas’s largest district. The school is located on Arkansas Avenue in a largely residential part of the city, north of the downtown core. Wichita itself is the state’s most populous city and a historic center of aircraft manufacturing. Families in the area are part of a working-class industrial city that also includes Wichita State University, several large hospitals, and a downtown entertainment district.
The student body reflects the demographics of the immediate neighborhood. The enrollment is predominantly Hispanic. White students make up a modest share of the population. Students who identify as Black, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, or two or more races are each a very small share. A substantial share of Ortiz’s students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker that families here face economic challenges at a high rate.
Academically, state assessment results for the most recent school year show that students met the state’s proficiency standard in English language arts at varying rates across the grade levels tested. In third grade, for example, more than a third of students scored at the proficient or advanced level. By fifth grade, that share was lower. In mathematics, proficiency rates were very low across all tested grades, with single-digit percentages of students reaching the proficient or advanced mark in grades four and five. In fifth-grade science, about a quarter of students scored proficient or above. The Kansas assessment program underwent a change in cut scores for math, which means that this year’s results are not directly comparable to prior years for that subject.
When compared against other school districts in Sedgwick County, Ortiz’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades falls in the bottom quartile. This measure combines results from all tested subjects and grade levels at the school into a single index. It is a straightforward fact about where the school sits academically relative to its county peers, not a judgment about the school or its staff.
The academic picture is one a parent may want to explore further with the school. Low proficiency rates in math are a particular soft spot. The school’s state test results are available, but the data provided does not include information on student participation rates during testing, which can sometimes affect how results are interpreted. Also missing from the data are details about special education services and English learner programs. The school’s grade band ends at fifth grade, so there are no high school outcomes such as graduation rates to report.
On the housing front, the ZIP code that serves Ortiz Elementary has home values and rents that sit below the state benchmark for Kansas. The estimated monthly mortgage payment for a typical home is slightly lower than the state median, and rent accounts for a manageable share of the local median household income, by national standards. This suggests that housing here is more affordable than in many parts of the state.
The district brief for Wichita Public Schools did not turn up any recent major changes, so this narrative does not include information on new initiatives, boundary shifts, or policy updates. Parents should check with the district or school directly for any current developments in curriculum, staffing, or programming.
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