Golden Plains

The Golden Plains school district in Kansas consists of three schools: Golden Plains Elementary, Golden Plains High, and Golden Plains Middle. The district serves a predominantly low-income population, with all three schools having high percentages of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch.

Golden Plains High stands out for its relatively high performance on the KAP Science assessment, with 53.83% of students scoring proficient or better, compared to the state average of 28.89%. In contrast, Golden Plains Elementary has seen a decline in its performance on the KAP assessments, dropping from a rank of 368 out of 668 Kansas elementary schools in 2021-2022 to 472 out of 660 in 2022-2023. Golden Plains Middle has the highest proficiency rates among the three schools on the 8th grade English Language Arts (50%) and Mathematics (30%) assessments, indicating it may be doing a better job of preparing students academically.

The Golden Plains district faces challenges in attracting and retaining qualified teachers, as evidenced by the relatively low student-teacher ratios, particularly at the high school and middle school levels. This, combined with the high poverty levels and inconsistent performance at the middle school, suggests the district should focus on addressing the academic performance issues and providing the necessary resources and support to meet the needs of its predominantly low-income student population.