Belle Plaine

The Belle Plaine school district in Kansas operates three schools: Belle Plaine Elementary, Belle Plaine High, and Belle Plaine Middle. Based on the available data, the schools in Belle Plaine appear to be underperforming compared to state averages on key metrics like standardized test scores, attendance, and graduation rates.

Across all three Belle Plaine schools, students demonstrate significantly lower proficiency in English Language Arts and Math compared to the state average, often by 10-20 percentage points. For example, in the 2024-2025 school year, Belle Plaine Elementary had a 42.64% proficiency rate in ELA versus the state average of 44.47%, and a 31.33% proficiency rate in Math versus the state average of 38.73%. The performance gaps are even wider at the middle and high school levels. Additionally, all three schools had high chronic absenteeism rates of 19.5% in 2024-2025, well above the state average.

While the Belle Plaine schools have decent graduation and dropout rates, with Belle Plaine High reporting an 89.5% 4-year graduation rate and a 1.3% dropout rate in 2023-2024, the overall academic performance of the district is concerning. The schools serve a predominantly economically disadvantaged student population, with free/reduced lunch rates ranging from 42.62% at the high school to 53.4% at the elementary school. Despite this, the district's spending per student is in line with state averages. The lack of improvement in the schools' rankings and ratings over the past few years suggests that systemic challenges need to be addressed to improve student outcomes in Belle Plaine.