Adams Elem

As a mid-sized elementary campus in Arkansas City, Kansas, Adams Elem teaches 306 students from grades pre-K through 5, overseen by Arkansas City.

Across the 8 schools in Arkansas City (2,902 students total), Adams Elem accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

In terms of who attends, Adams Elem lists that 48% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. The remainder consists of 46% Hispanic. The wider county runs roughly 80% White, putting the school's mix meaningfully less White than the area baseline.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 23 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 13.3:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. An estimated 76% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. Set against Cowley County (around 59%), the school's rate is noticeably above typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Adams Elem performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 25.9%, the actual is 23.6%, a residual of -2.3 points.

Across the wider county, the surrounding county (Cowley County) records that median household income runs about $57,878, roughly 25% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 12%. Adams Elem is one of 22 public schools in Cowley County (combined enrollment of about 5,714 students).

Nearest neighbor: Arkansas City High, around 0.8 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 7 other public schools cluster around Adams Elem. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Adams Elem ranks 7th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 28.9%.

Geographically, the school is in a town-based area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count grew 6%: 289 students in 2018 compared to 306 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share grew from 30% to 46%.

On this page, recent activity here tends to focus on fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.