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What's the most underrated thing about Paola Middle that outsiders don't know?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
413
Middle
DISTRICT 433 · STATE 402
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PAOLA·NCES 201050000776
Paola Middle
405 Hospital Drive, Paola, KS 66071 · (913) 294-8030 · Miami County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE32-TOWNREGULAR SCHOOL413 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
13.1:1
32 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.5:1 · STATE 12.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
39%
163 students
DISTRICT 38% · STATE 51%
Community
3
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. 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
Paola Middle→Paola High
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Paola. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
KAP 2024-25 . % Meeting + ExceedingEnglish Language Arts
45.8%
KS avg 44.5% . +10.9pp since 2023
Math
44.8%
KS avg 38.8% . +13.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the KAP, Kansas's statewide test, about 46 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 45 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Kansas schools, those numbers are about 45 and 39. Reading and writing scores are up about 11 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 14 points.
Source: KAP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
39.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
43.3%
based on KS schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-3.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 40% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 43% typical for Kansas schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Kansas's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
413
-41 (-9%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
13.1:1
was 14.5:1
% White
88%
was 89%
% Hispanic
6%
was 5%
% Black
1%
was 2%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About Paola Middle
Paola Middle, a medium-sized intermediate school in Paola, Kansas, one of the schools within Paola, enrolls 413 students, covering grades 6 through 8.
Paola runs 4 schools in total, collectively educating 1,732 students. Paola Middle is one of those campuses.
On the student-mix side, Paola Middle logs that nearly all students (88%) are White. The remainder consists of 6% Hispanic, 4% multiracial. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.
On the resource side, The school employs 32 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 13.1:1. The state averages about 12.7:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. An estimated 39% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.
With demographic context factored in, Paola Middle performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 43.3%, the actual is 39.7%, a residual of -3.6 points.
Around the school, Miami County reports that the typical household earns roughly $89,000 per year, about 31% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. Across Miami County's 17 public schools (combined enrollment of about 6,529 students), Paola Middle is one campus in the mix.
Nearest neighbor: Paola High, around 0.3 miles off. 3 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Paola Middle comes 2nd of 6 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 32.7%.
Paola Middle operates from a town-center location.
Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Paola Middle has edged down 9%, going from 454 students in 2018 to 413 in 2025. Class-load math has tightened: from 14.5:1 in 2018 to 13.1:1 in 2025.
Within the allk12 community for this school, the feed for Paola Middle typically covers fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Miami County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
34,938
Census ACS
Median income
$89,000
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
31%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
17
6,529 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Paola
- Paola HighHigh · 567 students
- Cottonwood ElemElementary · 379 students
- Sunflower ElemElementary · 373 students
Other schools in Paola
- Paola HighHigh · 567 students
- Cottonwood ElemElementary · 379 students
- Sunflower ElemElementary · 373 students
Nearby schools
- Paola High0.3 mi · 567
- Sunflower Elem0.3 mi · 373
- Cottonwood Elem0.6 mi · 379
- Osawatomie Middle School7.1 mi · 195
- Osawatomie Virtual School7.6 mi · 18
- Osawatomie High7.6 mi · 295
Frequently asked questions
About Paola MiddleHow many students attend Paola Middle?
Paola Middle enrolls approximately 413 students in grades 06-08.
Is Paola Middle an elementary, middle, or high school?
Paola Middle is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
How many teachers does Paola Middle have?
Paola Middle employs 32 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.1:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Paola Middle?
At Paola Middle, the student body is approximately 88% White, 6% Hispanic, 1% Black, 0% Asian, 4% Two or more.
Who oversees Paola Middle?
Paola Middle is overseen by Paola in Miami County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.