Summary
Belle Plaine Middle in Belle Plaine, Kansas, serves grades 5–8 and enrolls 162 students, making it smaller than the conventional nearby middle schools. Its results have improved, but its current statewide standing and local comparisons show that it still has ground to make up. The clearest takeaway for families is that science is a strength, while English language arts (ELA) and especially math are areas of concern.
In 2025–26, 49% of students were proficient in science, above the state’s 38% and the Belle Plaine district’s 38%; among nine conventional nearby schools, only Clearwater Intermediate - Middle School scored higher. By contrast, Belle Plaine’s ELA proficiency was 30%, below the state’s 46% and district’s 33%, while math was 21%, below the state’s 41% and district’s 25%. Among those same nearby schools, Belle Plaine was lowest in ELA and math; their average rates were 40% and 37%, respectively. Grade-level results reinforce the concern: Belle Plaine was lowest among conventional nearby schools reporting grade 6 results in both ELA and math, and its grade 8 math result was also lowest. All-grade comparisons are not perfectly grade-matched because Belle Plaine includes grade 5, while most nearby middle schools begin in grade 6.
Scores have risen since 2022–23: ELA gained 7 percentage points, math 14, and science 25. Science’s latest increase was especially strong, up 16 points in one year, and its results moved from below to above the state rate. ELA’s gap to the state widened by 5 points over the period, while the math gap narrowed by 5. SchoolDigger ranks the school 293rd of 368 Kansas schools, at the 20th percentile with one star; its percentile has improved from 9 in 2023–24. The student-teacher ratio is a low 11.0, and the free/reduced-lunch rate is 50%, close to the conventional nearby-school average of 48%—context, not explanations for achievement. Chronic absenteeism was 25%, above the state’s 18% and district’s 22%. SchoolDigger’s statewide measure of how well the school serves students receiving special education fell from the 60th percentile in 2024–25 to the 27th in 2025–26. Its measure for male students declined from the 40th percentile in 2020–21 to the 14th in 2025–26.
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