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Which teacher or staff member at Rising Star Elem deserves more recognition?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
473
Elementary
DISTRICT 423 · STATE 313
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SHAWNEE MISSION PUB SCH·NCES 201164001683
Rising Star Elem
8600 Candlelight Ln, Lenexa, KS 66215 · (913) 993-4500 · Johnson County
GRADES PK–06ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL473 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
14.4:1
33 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.7:1 · STATE 13.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
51%
242 students
DISTRICT 39% · STATE 51%
Community
5
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 31 | 7% |
| Kindergarten | 63 | 13% |
| Grade 1 | 65 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 67 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 64 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 72 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 51 | 11% |
| Grade 6 | 60 | 13% |
This year's kindergarten class (63) is 5% larger than its 6th grade class (60).
Student demographics
67%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 57% · 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
54.9%
KS avg 44.5%
Math
43.9%
KS avg 38.8%
What this means: On the KAP, Kansas's statewide test, about 55 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 44 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 | 54.9% | 43.9% |
| 2023-24 | 39.6% | 38.6% |
% 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
42.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
37.7%
based on KS schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+5.0pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 43% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 38% 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 Rising Star Elem
Rising Star Elem's state test result (42.8% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rising Star Elem this school | 473 | 51.2% | 42.8% |
| Delaware Ridge Elementary Kansas City | 378 | 57.1% | 33.1% |
| Eisenhower Elem Junction City | 370 | 57.3% | 41.7% |
| Rosehill Elem Lenexa | 477 | 57.2% | 37.9% |
| Spring Valley Elementary Junction City | 400 | 45.3% | 47.4% |
| LTG Richard J. Seitz Elementary Ft. Riley | 615 | 44.1% | 42.0% |
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 Rising Star Elem ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Kansas | In Johnson County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 42.8% | #328 of 625 | #91 of 111 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 43.9% | #293 of 625 | #89 of 111 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 54.9% | #234 of 625 | #84 of 111 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 473 | #95 of 714 | #25 of 112 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.4:1 | #373 of 539 | #70 of 108 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 66.7% | #77 of 540 | #6 of 108 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 51.2% | #365 of 658 | #24 of 111 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -17.2% | #145 of 377 | #27 of 76 |
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
473
+54 (+13%) vs 2020
-31% since 1990-91, when it was 688
Student : Teacher
14.4:1
was 15.0:1
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 | 473 | 32.8 | 14.4:1 | 51% (242) |
| 2023-24 | 459 | 32.3 | 14.2:1 | 49% (224) |
| 2022-23 | 469 | 32.3 | 14.5:1 | 49% (231) |
| 2020-21 | 419 | 28 | 15.0:1 | 43% (181) |
| 2017-18 | 571 | 36.8 | 15.5:1 | 52% (295) |
| 2015-16 | 615 | 37 | 16.6:1 | 60% (372) |
| 2010-11 | 491 | 32 | 15.3:1 | 50% (247) |
| 2000-01 | 530 | 37 | 14.3:1 | 10% (52) |
| 1990-91 | 688 | 37 | 18.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Rising Star Elem.
Since 2017-18: students down 17% (571 to 473); teachers down 11% (36.8 to 32.8).
About Rising Star Elem
Rising Star Elem, located in Lenexa, Kansas, is a large elementary school. The latest federal count shows 473 students in pre-K through 6. The average for elementary schools in Kansas is about 313 students, so this school is 51% larger than average.
The district for Rising Star Elem is Shawnee Mission Pub Sch, with 45 schools and 26,330 students.
White students form the largest group at Rising Star Elem, 50% of enrollment. The remaining shares are 21% Hispanic, 18% Black, 8% multiracial, and 2% Asian. Census estimates put the White share of Johnson County's population at about 79%. Rising Star Elem has a diversity index of 67%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
The school reported 32.8 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25 and a ratio of 14.4:1. The 13.2:1 average for elementary schools in Kansas is lower than this school's figure. Eligible students account for 51% of enrollment in the free or reduced-price lunch program. The average for public schools in Johnson County is 27%.
Compared with Kansas schools that have similar shares of low-income students, Rising Star Elem's results are 5.0 points above predicted: 42.8% against 37.7%.
Rising Star Elem is located in Johnson County, where median household income is about $109,208, 58% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 3% of people live in poverty. Federal data list 168 public schools in Johnson County, with a combined enrollment of about 93,598.
Mill Creek Elem is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.9 miles away. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. On proficiency, Rising Star Elem is behind the 42.9% nearby average, ranking 4th of 9.
Rising Star Elem is inside a principal city with a population under 100,000, a location NCES labels City: Small.
A comparison of 2020-21 and 2024-25 shows enrollment up 13%, from 419 to 473.
The Rising Star Elem community page is open for posts about school events, clubs, and volunteer needs. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Johnson County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
620,631
Census ACS
Median income
$109,208
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
58%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
3%
Below federal line
Schools in county
168
93,598 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Shawnee Mission Pub Sch
- Shawnee Mission East HighHigh · 1,737 students
- Shawnee Mission Northwest HighHigh · 1,599 students
- Shawnee Mission West HighHigh · 1,599 students
- Shawnee Mission South HighHigh · 1,574 students
- Shawnee Mission North HighHigh · 1,502 students
- Indian Hills MiddleMiddle · 879 students
Other schools in Lenexa
- Mill Creek Middle SchoolMiddle · 676 students
- Manchester Park ElementaryElementary · 616 students
- Rosehill ElemElementary · 477 students
- Canyon Creek ElementaryElementary · 459 students
- Christa McAuliffe ElemElementary · 400 students
- Sunflower ElemElementary · 390 students
Other Rising Star Elementary schools
2 other US public schools in 3 states are named Rising Star Elementary. Rising Star Elem is the largest of the 3.
- Rising Star Elementary SchoolSEATTLE, WA · 324 students
- Rising Star Elementary SchoolRISING STAR, TX · 88 students
Nearby schools
- Mill Creek Elem0.9 mi · 495
- Christa McAuliffe Elem1.1 mi · 400
- Sunflower Elem1.2 mi · 390
- Rosehill Elem1.7 mi · 477
- Trailridge Middle1.8 mi · 752
- Westridge Middle1.9 mi · 761
Frequently asked questions
About Rising Star ElemWhat is the total enrollment at Rising Star Elem?
Rising Star Elem enrolls approximately 473 students in grades PK-06.
Is Rising Star Elem an elementary, middle, or high school?
Rising Star Elem is an elementary school covering grades PK-06.
How many teachers does Rising Star Elem have?
Rising Star Elem employs 33 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 14.4:1.
What is the student diversity at Rising Star Elem?
Student demographics at Rising Star Elem are roughly 50% White, 21% Hispanic, 18% Black, 2% Asian, 8% Two or more.
What district is Rising Star Elem in?
Rising Star Elem is part of Shawnee Mission Pub Sch.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.