Best Public Schools in Cherokee, KS

Cherokee has two listed schools: Southeast High, serving grades 9–12 with 152 students, and Southeast Middle School, serving grades 5–8 with 128 students; no elementary school is included. Both schools’ 2025–26 all-grades proficiency rates were below Kansas rates in ELA, math, and science. The most notable shortfall is at Southeast High in ELA: 23% proficient compared with 46% statewide, a 23-point gap.

Neither school leads in every subject: Southeast Middle was ahead in ELA (40% versus 23%, a 17-point difference) and science (29% versus 18%, an 11-point difference), while Southeast High led in math (28% versus 22%, a 6-point difference). The school closer to Kansas changes by subject: Middle was closer in ELA and science, while High was closer in math. A standout grade-level result was Middle’s sixth-grade ELA, at 50% compared with 42% statewide; its math results were below state rates in every listed grade. SchoolDigger ranked Middle 268th of 368 schools, in the 27th percentile, and High 283rd of 340, in the 17th percentile; both received one star.

Recent test-score trends were generally positive, though not across every subject at both schools. From 2024–25 to 2025–26, High gained 9 percentage points in ELA and 9 in math; Middle gained 2 in ELA and 1 in math, but its math gap to Kansas widened. The two-school average rose 6 points in ELA and 5 in math. SchoolDigger’s rankings have fluctuated: High moved from the 55th percentile in 2023–24 to the 7th, then 17th; Middle rose from the 16th to the 27th percentile over that period. Reported chronic absenteeism was higher at High than Middle (28% versus 9%), while student-teacher ratios were 7.6 and 9.5, respectively; free/reduced-lunch rates were 63% at High and 70% at Middle. These are contextual differences, not explanations for results. Because the schools serve different grade spans, their all-grades rates are not same-grade comparisons.