Bowlegs

The small town of Bowlegs, Oklahoma is home to two struggling schools - Bowlegs Elementary School and Bowlegs High School. Both schools are ranked in the bottom 10% of their respective categories statewide, with low test scores, high chronic absenteeism rates, and a majority of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch.

Bowlegs Elementary School serves 185 students, while Bowlegs High School has just 70 students. The schools' district ranking is 425 out of 452 in Oklahoma, and they are both rated 0 out of 5 stars by SchoolDigger. Bowlegs Elementary School's statewide ranking has declined over the years, from 463 out of 957 Oklahoma elementary schools in 2014-2015 to 551 out of 845 in 2009-2010. Bowlegs High School's ranking has fluctuated, from 420 out of 449 Oklahoma high schools in 2014-2015 to 305 out of 431 in 2023-2024.

Despite high spending per student - $8,744 at the elementary school and $12,508 at the high school - the schools are not seeing commensurate improvements in academic performance. Both schools consistently score below the state average in OSTP/English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science, and their 11th-grade test scores are significantly lower than the state average. The high rates of chronic absenteeism (19.0% at both schools) and free/reduced lunch recipients (80.54% at the elementary school and 77.14% at the high school) suggest that the schools may be serving a disadvantaged student population, which could be contributing to the overall poor performance.