Russell Junior-Senior High

Russell High is a public high school located in Russell, Kansas, serving grades 9-12 with a total enrollment of 214 students. The school is part of the Russell County School District, which is ranked 239 out of 264 districts in the state and has a 0-star rating from SchoolDigger. Over the past several years, Russell High has consistently ranked in the bottom half of Kansas high schools, with its statewide ranking ranging from 44 to 303 out of 314-332 schools.

Russell High consistently underperforms the state average in academic proficiency across all subjects and grade levels. For example, in the 2024-2025 school year, only 20.82% of 10th-grade students were proficient or better in English Language Arts, compared to the state average of 37.93%. In mathematics, the proficiency rate for 10th-grade students was 17.02%, significantly lower than the state's 33.59%. The school's performance in science is also concerning, with only 9.82% of students proficient or better, compared to the state's 41.44%. While Russell High's four-year graduation rates have been relatively stable, ranging from 88.1% to 92.7% in recent years, they still lag behind the state average. Additionally, the school's dropout rates, which have ranged from 1.2% to 2.8% in the past few years, are higher than the state's average.

The closest comparable school to Russell High is Victoria Junior-Senior High School, located about 16 miles away. While Victoria Junior-Senior High School also struggles academically, it consistently outperforms Russell High in key metrics such as academic proficiency, graduation rates, and chronic absenteeism. Additionally, Russell High's performance varies significantly across different student subgroups, with the school's ranking for female students generally higher than for male students, and its special education and low-socioeconomic status students performing better than the overall student population.