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If you could change one rule at Prairie Hills Middle, what would it be?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
532
Middle
DISTRICT 359 · STATE 402
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BUHLER·NCES 200420001585
Prairie Hills Middle
3200 Lucille Drive, Hutchinson, KS 67502 · (620) 662-6027 · Reno County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE32-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL532 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 51% of Kansas public middle schools
- BTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C+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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
12.9:1
41 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.9:1 · STATE 12.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
43%
230 students
DISTRICT 37% · STATE 51%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 185 | 35% |
| Grade 7 | 186 | 35% |
| Grade 8 | 161 | 30% |
Student demographics
27%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 27% · 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
Prairie Hills Middle→Buhler High
Based on grade levels within Buhler. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
KAP 2024-25 . % Meeting + ExceedingEnglish Language Arts
43.0%
KS avg 44.5%
Math
38.4%
KS avg 38.8%
What this means: On the KAP, Kansas's statewide test, about 43 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 38 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 | 43.0% | 38.4% |
| 2023-24 | 32.2% | 30.0% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
34.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
41.5%
based on KS schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-6.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 35% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 42% 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 →
Schools most like Prairie Hills Middle
Prairie Hills Middle's state test result (34.9% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prairie Hills Middle this school | 532 | 43.2% | 34.9% |
| Seaman Middle School Topeka | 560 | 40.0% | 33.1% |
| Augusta Middle School Augusta | 445 | 44.3% | 26.8% |
| Paola Middle Paola | 413 | 39.5% | 39.7% |
| McPherson Middle School McPherson | 474 | 40.1% | 29.7% |
| Hays Middle School Hays | 726 | 40.4% | 35.1% |
Matched among Kansas middle 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 Prairie Hills Middle ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Kansas | In Reno County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 34.9% | #78 of 192 | N/A |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 38.4% | #86 of 192 | N/A |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 43.0% | #83 of 192 | N/A |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 532 | #76 of 225 | #1 of 6 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.9:1 | #72 of 161 | N/A |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 26.8% | #140 of 161 | N/A |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 43.2% | #125 of 195 | N/A |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -3.8% | #80 of 98 | N/A |
Ranked against other public middle 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
532
-18 (-3%) vs 2020
+41% since 1990-91, when it was 377
Student : Teacher
12.9:1
was 17.2:1
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 | 532 | 41.3 | 12.9:1 | 43% (230) |
| 2023-24 | 519 | 34.1 | 15.2:1 | 39% (203) |
| 2022-23 | 550 | 32.8 | 16.8:1 | 35% (191) |
| 2020-21 | 550 | 32 | 17.2:1 | 36% (199) |
| 2017-18 | 553 | 33.7 | 16.4:1 | 39% (216) |
| 2015-16 | 523 | 38 | 13.8:1 | 39% (204) |
| 2010-11 | 349 | 25 | 14.0:1 | 39% (135) |
| 2000-01 | 362 | 24 | 15.1:1 | 19% (67) |
| 1990-91 | 377 | 22 | 17.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Prairie Hills Middle.
Since 2017-18: students down 4% (553 to 532); teachers up 23% (33.7 to 41.3).
About Prairie Hills Middle
Prairie Hills Middle runs as a mid-sized middle school in Hutchinson, Kansas. Students in grades 6 through 8 make up the school's enrollment of 532 students. By comparison, middle schools in Kansas enroll about 402 students on average.
The 7 schools of Buhler, including Prairie Hills Middle, enroll 2,512 students.
Roughly 85% of students at Prairie Hills Middle are White. Smaller groups are 10% Hispanic and 2% Black. Reno County residents are about 85% White, a similar share. The diversity index for Prairie Hills Middle is 27%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
For every teacher at Prairie Hills Middle, there are about 12.9 students; the school has 41.3 full-time-equivalent teachers. The average ratio among middle schools in Kansas is similar, at 12.7:1. The eligibility rate for free or reduced-price meals is 43%. By comparison, the figure for public schools in Reno County is 55%.
On the allk12 Grade, Prairie Hills Middle lands at B-, ahead of 51% of Kansas public middle schools.
Test results at Prairie Hills Middle are 6.6 points below what its free or reduced-price lunch share predicts (34.9% actual, 41.5% predicted).
Five-year Census Bureau estimates for Reno County show that median household income comes to about $60,645, roughly 20% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 9% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Reno County counts 33 public schools with about 8,909 students.
The closest school to Prairie Hills Middle is Union Valley Elem, located about 1.0 miles away. There are at least 8 more public schools inside five miles. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts Prairie Hills Middle at 3rd of 6.
The federal government classifies Prairie Hills Middle's location as Town: Distant.
Enrollment was 532 in 2024-25. In 2020-21, it was 550. Its ratio of students to teachers was 17.2:1 in 2020-21, and 12.9:1 in 2024-25.
The discussion board for Prairie Hills Middle is open to topics like pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Reno County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
61,553
Census ACS
Median income
$60,645
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
20%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
33
8,909 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Buhler
- Buhler HighHigh · 674 students
- Plum Creek ElementaryElementary · 448 students
- Union Valley ElemElementary · 435 students
- Buhler Grade SchoolElementary · 241 students
- Ad Astra Virtual AcademyCombined · 171 students
- Ad Astra Alternative AcademyHigh · 11 students
Other schools in Hutchinson
- Hutchinson High SchoolHigh · 1,214 students
- Plum Creek ElementaryElementary · 448 students
- Union Valley ElemElementary · 435 students
- Morgan ElementaryElementary · 388 students
- McCandless ElementaryElementary · 346 students
- Wiley ElementaryElementary · 322 students
Nearby schools
- Union Valley Elem1.0 mi · 435
- Ad Astra Alternative Academy1.4 mi · 11
- Ad Astra Virtual Academy1.4 mi · 171
- Plum Creek Elementary2.6 mi · 448
- Hutchinson Virtual School3.0 mi · 300
- Hutchinson High School3.0 mi · 1,214
Frequently asked questions
About Prairie Hills MiddleHow large is Prairie Hills Middle?
Prairie Hills Middle enrolls approximately 532 students in grades 06-08.
Is Prairie Hills Middle an elementary, middle, or high school?
Prairie Hills Middle is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
How many teachers does Prairie Hills Middle have?
Prairie Hills Middle employs 41 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 12.9:1.
How diverse is Prairie Hills Middle?
Prairie Hills Middle reports a student body of 85% White, 10% Hispanic, 2% Black, 0% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Who oversees Prairie Hills Middle?
Prairie Hills Middle is overseen by Buhler in Reno County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.