If students performed as unspectacularly as the high schools in the Olathe School District, parents might be inclined to take away their privileges.
Each of the four high schools receives a middling C. Despite a relatively small percentage of low income students, in none of the high schools do more than 50 percent of the students meet Kansas Assessment Program (KAP) standards in either English language arts (ELA) or math.
The Kansas Policy Institute (KPI) has issued easily understood A-F grades for every school in the state. Grades are assigned to a school’s performance on English language arts (ELA) and math, both for low-income students and students not low-income. For more information on methodology, please check the KPI site.
Olathe Northwest High has 2258 students, 14 percent of whom qualify as low income. 47 percent are college and career ready in ELA, 50 percent in math.
Low-income Grade 10 students received a D in ELA and a D in math. Other students received a B in ELA and a B in math. The overall 2017 Grade for Olathe Northwest was C . The overall 2016 Grade was C.
Olathe North High has 2487 students, 43 percent qualify as low income. 37 percent are college and career ready in ELA, 30 percent in math.
Low-income Grade 10 students received a D in ELA and a F in math. Other students received a C in ELA and a B in math. The overall 2017 Grade for Olathe North was C . The overall 2016 Grade was C.
Olathe South High has 2157 students, 18 percent qualify as low income. 39 percent are college and career ready in ELA, 45 percent in math.
Low-income Grade 10 students received a D in ELA and a C in math. Other students received a C in ELA and a B in math. The overall 2017 Grade for Olathe South High was C . The overall 2016 Grade was C.
Olathe East High has 1926 students, 24 percent qualify as low income. 37 percent are college and career ready in ELA, 36 percent in math.
Low-income Grade 10 students received a D in ELA and a D in math. Other students received a C in ELA and a C in math. The overall 2017 Grade for Olathe East was C . The overall 2016 Grade was C.
Conclusions: The most useful base of comparison is the Shawnee Mission School District. Olathe Northwest, the district’s best performing school, does not measure up to Shawnee Mission East, Shawnee Mission’s best. To be fair, Olathe Northwest has slightly more low-income students.
On the other hand, Olathe North, which has the highest percentage of low income students in the district, produces better results than Shawnee Mission North which has a comparable number of low income students.
The second most successful school in Olathe District, Olathe South, has outcomes almost identical to those of Sumner Academy in Kansas City, Kansas. Sumner gets its numbers with 73 percent low-income students. Olathe South gets its number with 18 percent low income students.
Olathe needs to aim higher.
