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How has Highland Park High changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
835
High
DISTRICT 702 · STATE 410
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·TOPEKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 201226001476
Highland Park High
2424 SE California Ave, Topeka, KS 66605 · (785) 274-6000 · Shawnee County
GRADES 09–12HIGH12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL835 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 7% of Kansas public high schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- CBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Kansas public high schools
Student : Teacher
14.3:1
58 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 10.2:1 · STATE 11.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
80%
672 students
DISTRICT 79% · STATE 51%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 206 | 25% |
| Grade 10 | 236 | 28% |
| Grade 11 | 185 | 22% |
| Grade 12 | 208 | 25% |
Student demographics
68%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 72% · STATE 58% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
KAP 2024-25 . % Meeting + ExceedingEnglish Language Arts
17.1%
KS avg 44.5%
Math
3.9%
KS avg 38.8%
What this means: On the KAP, Kansas's statewide test, about 17 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 4 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Kansas schools, those numbers are about 45 and 39.
KAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 17.1% | 3.9% |
| 2023-24 | 11.5% | 7.7% |
% Meeting + Exceeding, all students and all tested grades. Kansas set new KAP cut scores in spring 2025, so results from 2023-24 and earlier are not comparable with later years.
Source: KAP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of KS schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
8.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
23.6%
based on KS schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-15.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 8% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 24% typical for Kansas schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Highland Park High
Highland Park High's state test result (8.3% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highland Park High this school | 835 | 80.5% | 8.3% |
| West High Wichita | 1,306 | 88.9% | 8.8% |
| South High Wichita | 1,662 | 87.5% | 11.8% |
| J C Harmon High Kansas City | 1,285 | 75.7% | 4.3% |
| Turner High Kansas City | 1,147 | 76.3% | 11.7% |
| Wyandotte High Kansas City | 1,903 | 85.2% | 4.3% |
Matched among Kansas high schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Highland Park High ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Kansas | In Shawnee County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 8.3% | #257 of 262 | #9 of 9 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 3.9% | #260 of 262 | #9 of 9 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 17.1% | #254 of 262 | #8 of 9 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 835 | #67 of 332 | #6 of 11 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.3:1 | #114 of 172 | #6 of 8 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 67.5% | #13 of 172 | #3 of 8 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 80.5% | #8 of 263 | #2 of 10 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -3.2% | #77 of 100 | #5 of 6 |
Ranked against other public high schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
835
-3 (0%) vs 2020
-12% since 1990-91, when it was 953
Student : Teacher
14.3:1
was 13.3:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 835 | 58.2 | 14.3:1 | 80% (672) |
| 2023-24 | 836 | 53.5 | 15.6:1 | 88% (732) |
| 2022-23 | 857 | 53.4 | 16.1:1 | 85% (731) |
| 2020-21 | 838 | 63 | 13.3:1 | 89% (742) |
| 2017-18 | 863 | 70.5 | 12.2:1 | 90% (780) |
| 2015-16 | 940 | 65 | 14.5:1 | 81% (757) |
| 2010-11 | 808 | 62 | 13.0:1 | 79% (642) |
| 2000-01 | 1,002 | 57 | 17.6:1 | 60% (601) |
| 1990-91 | 953 | 54 | 17.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Highland Park High.
Since 2017-18: students down 3% (863 to 835); teachers down 17% (70.5 to 58.2).
About Highland Park High
The public high school Highland Park High is located in Topeka, Kansas. Enrollment in 2024-25 was 835 students in grades 9 through 12. Against the 410-student average for high schools in Kansas, enrollment here is 104% higher.
Highland Park High is in Topeka Public Schools, a district with 11,695 students across 25 schools.
At Highland Park High, the largest share of students is Hispanic, at 48%. Next come 22% Black, 17% White, and 12% multiracial. The county population is about 14% Hispanic. The school's diversity index is 68%, meaning two students picked at random have a 68% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
Staffing totals 58.2 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the student-to-teacher ratio is 14.3:1. On average, high schools in Kansas have 11.9:1, compared with 14.3:1 here. The free or reduced-price lunch rate at Highland Park High is 80%. For comparison, public schools in Shawnee County average 54%.
Highland Park High is graded D by allk12, scoring above 7% of Kansas public high schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
After accounting for student poverty, Highland Park High is in the bottom 10% of Kansas schools. Its average proficiency rate on state tests of 8.3% is 15.3 points below the 23.6% predicted for its lunch-eligibility share.
County data help place the school in context: in Shawnee County, the median household income is $67,104, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 32%, and about 9% of people live in poverty. In all, Shawnee County has 54 public schools and roughly 26,294 students.
The closest public school, Highland Park Central, is about 0.7 miles from Highland Park High. Other public schools within five miles: at least 8. Highland Park High is 6th of 8 nearby schools by average proficiency rate.
Highland Park High is coded as City: Mid-size in federal locale data.
In 2020-21, Highland Park High enrolled 838; in 2024-25, 835. The student-to-teacher ratio went up from 13.3:1 to 14.3:1.
Families, students, and staff can use this page to discuss school safety, transportation, and start times at Highland Park High. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Shawnee County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
178,025
Census ACS
Median income
$67,104
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
32%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
54
26,294 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Topeka Public Schools
- Topeka HighHigh · 1,578 students
- Topeka West HighHigh · 971 students
- Jardine ElementaryElementary · 729 students
- Ross ElementaryElementary · 563 students
- Jardine Middle SchoolMiddle · 508 students
- Marjorie French Middle SchoolMiddle · 480 students
Other schools in Topeka
- Washburn Rural HighHigh · 1,878 students
- Topeka HighHigh · 1,578 students
- Seaman HighHigh · 1,190 students
- Topeka West HighHigh · 971 students
- Washburn Rural Middle SchoolMiddle · 966 students
- Jardine ElementaryElementary · 729 students
Other Highland Park High schools
4 other US public schools in 4 states are named Highland Park High. Highland Park High is the 3rd largest of the 5.
- Highland Park High SchoolDALLAS, TX · 2,119 students
- Highland Park High SchoolHighland Park, IL · 1,661 students
- Highland Park High SchoolHIGHLAND PARK, NJ · 493 students
- Highland Park High SchoolAMARILLO, TX · 213 students
Nearby schools
- Highland Park Central0.7 mi · 318
- Eisenhower Middle School1.2 mi · 440
- Ross Elementary1.3 mi · 563
- Scott Dual Language Magnet1.7 mi · 402
- Williams Science and Fine Arts Magnet School1.8 mi · 447
- Avondale Academy2.5 mi · 23
Frequently asked questions
About Highland Park HighWhat is the total enrollment at Highland Park High?
Highland Park High enrolls approximately 835 students in grades 09-12.
What grades does Highland Park High serve?
Highland Park High serves grades 09-12.
How many teachers does Highland Park High have?
Highland Park High employs 58 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 14.3:1.
What is the student diversity at Highland Park High?
Student demographics at Highland Park High are roughly 17% White, 48% Hispanic, 22% Black, 0% Asian, 12% Two or more.
What district is Highland Park High in?
Highland Park High is part of Topeka Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.