Enrollment
371
Elementary
DISTRICT 357 · STATE 313
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·HAYS·NCES 200702001680
Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem
1401 Hall, Hays, KS 67601 · (785) 623-2510 · Ellis County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY33-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL371 STUDENTS
A+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 98% of Kansas public elementary schools
- A+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A+Beats 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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
14.1:1
26 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.7:1 · STATE 13.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
40%
147 students
DISTRICT 43% · STATE 51%
Community
0
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 63 | 17% |
| Grade 1 | 62 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 52 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 64 | 17% |
| Grade 4 | 72 | 19% |
| Grade 5 | 58 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (63) is 9% larger than its 5th grade class (58).
Student demographics
38%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 33% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Based on grade levels within Hays. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
QUIET COMMUNITY
Be the first to start a discussion at Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem.
START A DISCUSSIONTest scores
KAP 2024-25 . % Meeting + ExceedingEnglish Language Arts
73.6%
KS avg 44.5%
Math
60.9%
KS avg 38.8%
What this means: On the KAP, Kansas's statewide test, about 74 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 61 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 | 73.6% | 60.9% |
| 2023-24 | 64.7% | 68.3% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of KS schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
69.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
43.2%
based on KS schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+26.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 70% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 43% typical for Kansas schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 26 points, placing it in Kansas's top 10%.
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 Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem
Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem's state test result (69.5% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem this school | 371 | 39.6% | 69.5% |
| Cottonwood Elementary Andover | 388 | 33.2% | 59.0% |
| Sunflower Elementary School Andover | 367 | 31.3% | 51.7% |
| Nike Elementary Gardner | 365 | 39.2% | 57.1% |
| Stone Creek Elementary Derby | 451 | 33.3% | 55.9% |
| Meadowlark Ridge Elem Salina | 431 | 36.7% | 55.7% |
Matched among Kansas elementary 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 Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Kansas | In Ellis County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 69.5% | #28 of 625 | #1 of 6 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 60.9% | #106 of 625 | #1 of 6 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 73.6% | #42 of 625 | #1 of 6 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 371 | #237 of 714 | #2 of 6 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.1:1 | #347 of 539 | N/A |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 37.9% | #344 of 540 | N/A |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 39.6% | #477 of 658 | #5 of 6 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -4.9% | #310 of 377 | N/A |
Ranked against other public elementary 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
371
-8 (-2%) vs 2020
+78% since 1990-91, when it was 209
Student : Teacher
14.1:1
was 15.8:1
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 | 371 | 26.2 | 14.1:1 | 40% (147) |
| 2023-24 | 396 | 26 | 15.2:1 | 41% (163) |
| 2022-23 | 384 | 23.6 | 16.3:1 | 42% (163) |
| 2020-21 | 379 | 24 | 15.8:1 | 39% (147) |
| 2017-18 | 390 | 21.1 | 18.5:1 | 41% (160) |
| 2015-16 | 364 | 19 | 19.2:1 | 41% (151) |
| 2010-11 | 334 | 19 | 17.6:1 | 37% (125) |
| 2000-01 | 317 | 27 | 11.7:1 | 24% (75) |
| 1990-91 | 209 | 13 | 16.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem.
Since 2017-18: students down 5% (390 to 371); teachers up 24% (21.1 to 26.2).
About Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem
The public elementary school Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem is located in Hays, Kansas. Its 371 students are spread across kindergarten through 5.
A total of 7 schools make up Hays, with 3,434 students enrolled.
White students account for 78% of enrollment at Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem. The remaining students are 9% Hispanic, 5% Asian, 5% multiracial, and 3% Black. Census figures show Ellis County is about 89% White. By the diversity index, Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem comes in at 38%.
With 26.2 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25, the ratio at Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem was 14.1:1. The 13.2:1 average for elementary schools in Kansas is lower than this school's figure. A measure often used for student poverty, free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, stands at 40%. Across public schools in Ellis County, the average is about the same, 41%.
Measured against Kansas public elementary schools, Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem receives an A+. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem is a top-10% school in Kansas on BeatsExpectations, beating its predicted average proficiency rate on state tests of 43.2% with an actual 69.5%.
Census estimates describe Ellis County this way: median household income is about $63,084, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 39% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 11%. Federal data list 11 public schools in Ellis County, with a combined enrollment of about 4,040.
The nearest other public school, Lincoln Elem, is about 0.5 miles away. The count of other public schools within five miles is 6. The average proficiency across nearby scored schools is 42.7%; Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem's is 69.5%, ranking 1st of 8.
In the federal locale system, Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem is coded Town: Remote, for schools in a town far from an urbanized area.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, enrollment held near 371, starting from 379. The school's ratio fell from 15.8:1 to 14.1:1 between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
The Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem community page is open for posts about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Ellis County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
28,920
Census ACS
Median income
$63,084
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
39%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
11%
Below federal line
Schools in county
11
4,040 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Hays
- Hays HighHigh · 1,017 students
- Hays Middle SchoolMiddle · 726 students
- Roosevelt ElemElementary · 420 students
- Woodrow Wilson ElemElementary · 364 students
- Lincoln ElemElementary · 274 students
- Hays Virtual SchoolCombined · 262 students
Other schools in Hays
- Hays HighHigh · 1,017 students
- Hays Middle SchoolMiddle · 726 students
- Roosevelt ElemElementary · 420 students
- Woodrow Wilson ElemElementary · 364 students
- Lincoln ElemElementary · 274 students
- Hays Virtual SchoolCombined · 262 students
Nearby schools
- Lincoln Elem0.5 mi · 274
- Hays Virtual School0.8 mi · 262
- Woodrow Wilson Elem1.0 mi · 364
- Hays Middle School1.1 mi · 726
- Roosevelt Elem1.6 mi · 420
- Hays High2.3 mi · 1,017
Frequently asked questions
About Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy ElemHow large is Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem?
Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem enrolls approximately 371 students in grades KG-05.
What grades does Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem serve?
Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem serves grades KG-05.
How many students per teacher at Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem?
Approximately 14.1:1 students per teacher at Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem?
At Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem, the student body is approximately 78% White, 9% Hispanic, 3% Black, 5% Asian, 5% Two or more.
What district is Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem in?
Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem is part of Hays.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.