Summary
Jefferson Elementary is a public school in Wichita, Kansas, serving 381 students from prekindergarten through grade 5. In 2025–26, students were proficient on state tests at rates of 28% in English language arts (ELA), 21% in math, and 13% in science. The main concern is that results were below state levels in all three subjects, with science the largest gap: 25 percentage points below the state.
Compared with nearby schools, Jefferson’s relative standing varies by subject, though its results were below the nearby-school average in all three: 28% in ELA versus 41%, 21% in math versus 31%, and 13% in science versus 29%. Among Jefferson and 10 nearby schools, it ranked seventh in ELA, fifth in math, and fourth in science. Math is its clearest comparative strength: Jefferson was just above the Wichita district’s result (21.3% versus 21.0%), while ELA was 2 points below the district and science was 8 points below. Against the state, ELA was 18 points below, math 20 points below, and science 25 points below. Within Jefferson, grade 4 math stood out at 32%, 8 points above the district; fifth-grade ELA was a notable weakness at 16%, 15 points below the district.
Results have improved in math over time, but science has declined: from 2022–23 to 2025–26, math rose 12 points and ELA rose 11, while science fell 5 points. Jefferson’s SchoolDigger statewide ranking improved from the 4th to the 10th percentile, but it remains low overall, with 1 star. Its student-teacher ratio was 13.8, among the lower ratios in the nearby group, and 92% of students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch; these figures provide context, not an explanation for test results. SchoolDigger’s ranking for how well the school serves students receiving special education services dropped from the 68th percentile in 2024–25 to the 3rd in 2025–26. Its ranking for how well it serves African American students also fell, from the 38th percentile in 2023–24 to the 14th in 2025–26, even as the overall ranking rose. These are year-to-year rankings, not measures of individual students’ progress.
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