Central State Academy

Central State Academy is a K–12 alternative school in Hutchinson, Kansas, with 110 students, serving the area alongside nearby virtual-school options. Its 2025–26 all-grade proficiency results are below both Kansas and its district in English language arts, math, and science. The central concern is that its results are especially low in ELA and math, and it has the lowest nearby-school results in both subjects.

Compared with Ad Astra Virtual Academy and Hutchinson Virtual School, Central State’s all-grade ELA proficiency is 13%, versus 20% and 21%; in math it is 3%, versus 20% and 6%. Its science result, 18%, falls between the nearby schools’ 27% and 10%. All three Central State rates are also below the state (46% ELA, 41% math, 38% science) and district (45%, 42%, and 49%). One notable exception is 11th-grade science: Central State’s 31% exceeds the state’s 30% and both nearby schools’ results. Graduation is another relative strength: its 2023–24 rate was 89%, close to Kansas’s 90% and above the nearby schools’ 74% rates.

Across the reported years from 2022–23 to 2025–26, Central State’s proficiency fell by 11 points in ELA, 6 in math, and 5 in science; its gaps with the state widened in all three subjects. The changes were not steady year to year: ELA, for example, rose before falling to its latest result. Graduation increased from 30% in 2019–20 to 89% in 2023–24, while the latest dropout rate was 2%, above the state’s 1%; reported chronic absenteeism was 0% in 2025–26, compared with 18% statewide. SchoolDigger ranks the Nickerson district 121st of 268 (55th percentile, 3 stars), not the school; school-level ratings and student–teacher ratios are unavailable, and the only supplied lunch-rate figure is 3% for 2022–23.