Summary:
Nickerson Elementary (PK–6, 183 students) and Nickerson High (grades 9–12, 255 students) are the two listed schools in Nickerson, Kansas; no middle school is listed. The schools serve 438 students across elementary and high school grades. The clearest overall finding is that Nickerson Elementary leads in all three reported subjects, with its biggest advantage in science.
Nickerson Elementary is the strongest academic performer in the available results: in 2025–26, its all-grades scores were 64% in ELA, 62% in math, and 84% in science, compared with 43%, 51%, and 36% at Nickerson High. Those are elementary-school leads of 20, 12, and 48 percentage points. The elementary scores were also above state results in all three subjects, while the high school was above state in math but slightly below in ELA and science. Grade-level results show a notable exception to the elementary school’s generally strong profile: grade 4 math was 4 points below the state, while grade 6 ELA and math were 35 and 41 points above. Nickerson High has a stronger outcome in graduation than its overall test profile suggests: its 2023–24 graduation rate was 96%, versus 90% statewide.
ELA and math scores rose at both schools from 2024–25 to 2025–26, but elementary science dipped: its score fell 3 points, while the state result fell 3 points as well, leaving the school’s advantage about 1 point larger. SchoolDigger’s statewide ranking percentile for Nickerson High climbed from 18th to 76th over the three reported years; Nickerson Elementary rose from 72nd to 84th, after a dip to 68th. Attendance points to a concern at the high school: chronic absenteeism was 19%, compared with 5% at the elementary school and 18% statewide. Staffing and income context differ modestly: the schools’ student-teacher ratios were 10.0 and 9.2, and free/reduced-lunch eligibility was 59% and 53%, respectively; these are observations, not explanations for the results.
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