The top reported proficiency rate is 49% in English language arts. The lowest is 35% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Lowell Elem
Lowell Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Winfield, Kansas, as part of the Winfield public school district. It is a neighborhood elementary school nestled in a community that blends residential streets with a historic downtown and significant industrial employment. The city, the Cowley County seat, sits along the Walnut River and supports a traditional small-town Midwestern character, anchored by employers like Newell Rubbermaid, the Winfield Correctional Facility, GE Aviation at Strother Field, and Southwestern College, a private Methodist-affiliated institution. The annual Walnut Valley Festival draws large crowds, but for most of the year Winfield’s pace is quiet and residential. Housing in the area is notably affordable relative to national benchmarks, with a soft vacancy rate that suggests a market with supply to meet demand.
The school’s enrollment supports a familiar, community-based feel. Its student body is predominantly white, with Hispanic students forming the second-largest group and smaller shares of students who are two or more races, Black, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that Lowell serves a population with significant economic need. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the records reviewed, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about its special education and language support services.
Academically, the state testing picture from the Kansas Assessment Program shows a mixed landscape. In English language arts, the school’s fourth-grade cohort performed well, with a majority of students scoring at or above the proficient level. Third-grade performance in English language arts was around an even split. Fifth grade, however, showed a noticeable drop, with about a third of students reaching proficiency. Math results followed a similar pattern: fourth grade had the strongest showing, while third and fifth grades both landed below the midpoint. Fifth-grade science results were also below that benchmark. Compared to other elementary schools within Cowley County, Lowell’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits below the midpoint of its peers. Kansas recently adjusted its cut scores for these assessments, which means direct comparison to prior years is not straightforward, and a parent may want to discuss the school’s recent trajectory and any targeted support for the upper grades with the principal or teacher team.
Because Lowell is an elementary school, it does not report a high school graduation rate, nor does it offer the advanced coursework, career pathways, or dual-credit programs that become relevant later in a student's academic career. The school’s grade band means the academic conversation is focused squarely on building foundational literacy and math skills.
The district brief turned up little in the way of recent system-wide changes, so the school operates within a stable administrative context. No detailed information on discipline practices, staffing ratios, chronic absenteeism, or course access was available for this report. Those are important parts of the daily experience for families, and a prospective parent should consider asking about class sizes, teacher retention, and how the school supports students who are struggling to meet grade-level expectations.
Lowell Elementary fits a family looking for a small, community-connected elementary school in an affordable, quiet Kansas town. The test results tell a story of variability across grades, with fourth grade as a relative strength and fifth grade as an area where the school may need to invest more attention. For a parent weighing this option, the key is to visit the school, talk with the principal about how the staff identifies and assists students who fall behind in the later elementary years, and confirm that the building’s special education and English language services match their child’s needs, since those numbers were not available in this data.
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