THUNDER RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL

THUNDER RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL is an one-room-style senior high in KENSINGTON, Kansas, part of Thunder Ridge Schools. The school teaches 60 students in grades 9 through 12. That puts it 85% below the typical public school in Kansas, which averages around 410 students.

Thunder Ridge Schools runs 3 schools in total, collectively educating 170 students. THUNDER RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL is one of those campuses.

For racial and ethnic makeup, THUNDER RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL records that 85% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Other groups include 7% Hispanic, 7% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 94% White, putting the school's mix noticeably less White than the area baseline.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 7 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 8.7:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 11.9:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Around 48% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), THUNDER RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 39.1% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 40.9%.

Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for Smith County indicate median household income runs about $59,135, roughly 26% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 4% of residents live below the federal poverty line. THUNDER RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL is one of 4 public schools in Smith County (combined enrollment of about 534 students).

THUNDER RIDGE ELEMENTARY is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles from this campus. 2 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 7 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), THUNDER RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL ranks 4th on composite proficiency, beneath the local average of 43.0%.

The campus sits in a small-town setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 17%: 72 students in 2018 compared to 60 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 9.7:1 in 2018 to 8.7:1 today.

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