Sullivan Elementary

Sullivan Elementary is a public elementary school serving grades 3-5 in Ulysses, Kansas, with 318 students. The school is part of the Ulysses school district, which is ranked 253 out of 264 districts in the state and has a 0-star rating from SchoolDigger. Sullivan Elementary has consistently ranked in the bottom half of Kansas elementary schools, with a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger for most of the past 10 years, indicating below-average performance.

Sullivan Elementary faces several challenges, including high chronic absenteeism rates ranging from 19.5% to 22.0% in recent years, significantly below-average test scores compared to state and district averages, and significant disparities in performance between different student subgroups. While the school performs relatively well for Hispanic and English Language Learner students, it struggles with White, Special Education, and Low Socioeconomic Status students, ranking in the bottom half or bottom third of Kansas elementary schools for these subgroups. The school's high percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, ranging from 58.11% to 77.36% in recent years, suggests a high level of economic disadvantage among the student population.

Interestingly, the nearby Hickok Elementary appears to be performing better than Sullivan Elementary, with a higher ranking in the past and lower chronic absenteeism rates. This suggests that the challenges faced by Sullivan Elementary may be specific to the school rather than the district as a whole. Additionally, the relatively low per-student spending at Sullivan Elementary ($8,149 in 2018-2019) compared to Hickok Elementary ($9,258 in 2018-2019) may be a contributing factor to the school's underperformance, and ensuring equitable resource allocation could potentially help improve outcomes.