Frances Willard Elem

Set in Arkansas City, Kansas, Frances Willard Elem is a middle-of-the-pack elementary campus, operated by Arkansas City. It serves 281 students across grades pre-K through 5.

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

On demographics, Frances Willard Elem records that the most-represented group is White (44%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Other groups include 41% Hispanic, 6% multiracial, 4% Black, 3% Pacific Islander. That is visibly less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 80%.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 16 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 17.5:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 13.2:1 average. Roughly 77% of students at Frances Willard Elem qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. That share is north of Cowley County's rate of about 59%.

After controlling for student poverty, Frances Willard Elem performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 25.2%, the actual is 17.0%, a residual of -8.2 points.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for Cowley County indicate the typical household earns roughly $57,878 per year, about 25% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 12%. Across Cowley County's 22 public schools (combined enrollment of about 5,714 students), Frances Willard Elem is one campus in the mix.

Roosevelt Elem is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.5 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 7 other public schools cluster around Frances Willard Elem. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Frances Willard Elem at 8th of 9; the average score across the group is 29.7%.

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

Five-year trend. Frances Willard Elem's enrollment has grew 12% since 2018, when it stood at 251 (now 281). Over the same period, the White share decreased from 50% to 44%. The student-to-teacher ratio loosened from 14.0:1 in 2018 to 17.5:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.