The top reported proficiency rate is 38% in Science. The lowest is 18% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Newkirk Ms
Newkirk is a small county-seat town in north-central Oklahoma, an agricultural community with a historic Main Street district built from local yellow limestone and anchored by the Kay County Courthouse. The town is compact, quiet, and stable in population. Newkirk Middle School serves grades six through eight and draws its roughly one hundred eighty students from the district that covers the town and surrounding farm families.
The student body is predominantly white, with a sizable American Indian or Alaska Native population, a small number of students who identify as two or more races, and very small shares of Black and Hispanic students. Information on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, receive special education services, or are English learners was not available in the data we reviewed. A parent may want to ask the school directly about these support structures.
State testing data comes from the Oklahoma School Testing Program, and it is worth noting that the state changed its cut scores for math and English language arts tests in recent years, which makes direct year-over-year comparisons uncertain. That said, the most recent results show that proficiency rates across all three grade levels and both math and English language arts sit below the midpoint among districts in Kay County, placing Newkirk Middle School in the bottom quartile of the county for overall proficiency. In math, the proportion of students scoring at the proficient or above level was roughly one in five for seventh graders and about one in six for eighth graders; the sixth-grade math proficiency rate was suppressed from public reporting. In English language arts, about one in five sixth graders scored proficient, about one in six seventh graders did, and a slightly higher share of eighth graders, roughly one in five, reached that bar. Science testing, which is administered only in eighth grade, showed a larger share of students meeting proficiency, about three in eight. A family moving to the area will want to understand these performance patterns and discuss them with the school to get the full picture of academic support and expectations.
Because Newkirk Middle School serves only grades six through eight, there is no graduation rate to report. The school is a traditional public school, not a charter or magnet. The district, Newkirk Public Schools, does not appear to have undergone any major recent changes that are publicly documented in a way that would materially affect a family’s decision.
The middle school building is located on South Academy Street. The town’s compact geography means that the school is within walking or a short drive of the historic downtown area, and the entire community is organized around a traditional grid. Housing in the area is modestly priced relative to state and national benchmarks, and the local economy relies on agriculture, county government, and a tribal casino and related facilities about a mile east of town.
For a family considering Newkirk, the middle school offers a small, rural setting where students know their classmates and teachers. The academic results suggest that the school community is working from a baseline that is lower than many of its county peers in core subjects, and parents should expect to engage actively with the school about curriculum, tutoring, and any enrichment opportunities. The school’s website was not reviewed as part of this analysis, so families should check there for details on elective offerings, extracurriculars, and any targeted academic programs.
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