Best Public Schools in Zip Code 62998

Zip code 62998 has three schools in Shawnee CUSD 84, serving preschool through grade 12: Shawnee Elementary School (PK–5), Shawnee Junior High School (grades 6–8), and Shawnee High School (grades 9–12). The clearest positive is the junior high’s improvement: its 2025–26 all-grades IAR ELA result was 54%, compared with 32% at the elementary school, and the junior high was just 2 percentage points below the state. The elementary school’s all-grades ELA result remained 25 points below the state, making continued improvement there the area’s biggest academic concern.

Strong results show up in particular grades: elementary 5th-grade ELA was 63%, 8 points above the state, while junior-high 8th-grade ELA was 68%, 5 points above. The junior high also had a much weaker all-grades math result, 18%—22 points below the state—so its strengths are not uniform across subjects. The high school’s available 2024–25 results show a sharp subject divide: PreACT ELA was 3 points above state in 9th grade and 6 points above in 10th, while math was 38 and 29 points below, respectively; 11th-grade ACT math and science were 39 and 40 points below state. High-school chronic absenteeism was also highest: 35%, versus 24% statewide and 21% districtwide. Its 2025–26 test results are suppressed, so the high-school scores cited are from 2024–25.

Recent IAR trends are encouraging, especially at the junior high: from 2024–25 to 2025–26, its all-grades ELA rose 16 points and its gap with the state narrowed by 13 points; 8th-grade science rose 35 points, bringing it to within 2 points of state. Elementary all-grades ELA rose 11 points, but remained 25 points below state. SchoolDigger rankings also rose: the junior high went from the 22nd to the 47th percentile, the high school from the 18th to the 33rd, and the elementary school from the 4th to the 7th. As context, 2024–25 free/reduced lunch eligible shares were 81% at the junior high, 60% at the elementary school, and 53% at the high school; student-teacher ratios were 12.4, 17.8, and 8.4, respectively.