Prairie Park Elem

Set in Lawrence, Kansas, Prairie Park Elem is a middle-of-the-pack elementary campus, operated by Lawrence. It enrolls 354 students across grades K through 5.

Across the 18 schools in Lawrence (10,380 students total), Prairie Park Elem accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Prairie Park Elem shows that the largest single group is White, at 55% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school shows 21% multiracial, 12% Hispanic, 7% Black, 4% Native American. The wider county runs roughly 78% White, putting the school's mix noticeably less White than the area baseline.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Prairie Park Elem has 26 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 13.6:1. The state averages about 13.2:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. Roughly 52% of students at Prairie Park Elem qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Douglas County runs at roughly 40%, so the school's eligibility rate is higher than the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Prairie Park Elem performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 37.5%, the actual is 34.6%, a residual of -2.8 points.

Zooming out to the county, ACS estimates for Douglas County put median household earnings sit near $69,746, roughly 53% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 5% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Prairie Park Elem is one of 30 public schools in Douglas County (combined enrollment of about 13,766 students).

Billy Mills Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.5 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Prairie Park Elem ranks 5th on composite proficiency, ahead of the local average of 34.3%.

The campus sits in a city-core setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 4%: 367 students in 2018 compared to 354 in 2025. The White share of enrollment contracted from 65% to 55% over that span.

Inside the community feed, posts here usually surface around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.