Salina

Salina’s 13 schools include eight elementary schools, two middle schools and three high schools. In 2025–26, their average proficiency rates were 44% in ELA, 37% in math and 36% in science, compared with state rates of 46%, 41% and 38%. Math is the subject furthest below the state average, while the wide differences between schools show that results vary substantially across the area. The clearest overall finding is that Meadowlark Ridge Elementary leads all 13 schools in every subject.

Meadowlark Ridge scores 60% in ELA, 60% in math and 60% in science—18, 25 and 26 percentage points above the average of the other 12 schools, respectively. At the other end, Sunset Elementary has the lowest ELA rate, 27%; Salina Virtual Innovation Academy has the lowest math rate, 13%; and Schilling Elementary has the lowest science rate, 24%. Among high schools, Salina High South leads in all three subjects and has a higher graduation rate than Salina High Central (86% versus 79%), though both schools’ chronic absenteeism rates exceed the state’s.

Results improved overall: ELA and math averages each rose about 4 percentage points from the prior year, and the science average for the same 10 elementary and middle schools rose 4 points while the state rate fell 3 points. Gains were not universal: Heusner Elementary had the largest math increase, 15 points, while math fell 3 points at the virtual academy. SchoolDigger’s statewide percentile ranking rose from 28th to 49th at Central, but fell from 48th to 27th at Cottonwood Elementary; rankings are distinct from test scores. School characteristics also do not form a simple performance ladder: Meadowlark has the largest elementary enrollment and highest listed student–teacher ratio, 14.5, while elementary schools with a 10.5 ratio have differing ELA results. Since schools serve different grade spans, all-grade comparisons are not perfectly like-for-like.