Pike Valley High

Pike Valley High in Scandia, Kansas, serves 51 students in grades 9–12 in a small community. Its results are mixed: math is near state and nearby-school levels, but English Language Arts (ELA) is far weaker. In 2025–26, 19% of students were proficient in ELA, compared with 46% statewide and 58% in the Pike Valley district; the nearby-school average was 37%. The same concern appears in 10th grade, where Pike Valley’s 19% was below the nearby average of 40%. ELA is the clearest academic concern for families to ask about.

Math is Pike Valley’s strongest result relative to the state and nearby schools: 40% were proficient, just 1 point below the state and 2 points above the nearby average. It was still 17 points below the district’s 57%. All-grades science was less strong: 33% proficiency compared with 38% statewide and 34% and 37% at Concordia Junior-Senior High and Republic County Junior/Senior High School. But in 11th-grade science, Pike Valley’s 33% topped the state’s 30% and both nearby schools’ results. Attendance and graduation are positives: chronic absenteeism was 9%, below the state’s 18%, and the 2023–24 graduation rate was 92%, above the state’s 90%.

Results have shifted over time: math rose from 15% in 2023–24 to 40% in 2025–26, while ELA climbed from 8% to 40% and then fell to 19%. SchoolDigger gives Pike Valley 2 stars and a 37th-percentile overall ranking, down from the 63rd percentile in 2024–25. Its statewide ranking for White students, a measure of how well the school serves that group relative to peers, also swung sharply: 4th percentile in 2023–24, 52nd in 2024–25, and 30th in 2025–26. The student–teacher ratio is low at 6.2, compared with 10.8 and 12.0 at the nearby schools; the free/reduced-lunch rate is also lower, at 39% versus 52% and 53%. These are context, not explanations for test results. Small enrollment and the nearby schools’ broader grade spans can make comparisons and year-to-year changes harder to interpret.