Unified School District 259
Unified School District #259 has seven traditional comprehensive and six magnet
or alternative high schools. Three major private high schools and a handful of
smaller private high schools also operate in Wichita.
To abide by its 1971 desegregation policy, the Wichita School Board created an Assigned Attendance Area. Students, mostly African-American, living within the boundaries of the Assigned Attendance Area are assigned by address to specific schools and bused. The district’s desegregation and busing policies have been reevaluated by the school board and on January 28, 2008 the board voted to end busing for desegregation in the Wichita Public Schools. The plan discontinues the decades-old practice of busing students based on race for the purpose of desegregation in the Wichita district.
During the 1980’s, the Wichita school district experienced substantial movement of the population within the district. Those areas on the fringes of Wichita saw new construction and increases in population. Areas within the core of the city experienced population declines and little or no new construction. The largest population declines occurred in the downtown area and in the neighborhoods to the near northeast of downtown. As a result of these population shifts, the urban core of the district has become characterized by older, middle to lower income neighborhoods with sizeable pockets of minority populations while the outer fringes of the district are made up of newly, large white middle to upper income neighborhoods. Any student who lives more than 2.5 miles from school is eligible for busing services.
Wichita public schools helped pioneer standards of competency when USD 259 students were tested with the District Benchmark Assessments. The District Benchmark Assessments are being transitioned into District Common Assessments. Students take the Kansas Assessments during grades 2, 5, 8, and 10/11. Intervention systems have been created for those students who do not pass the competency exam(s). Three strategic focused interventions include 3 tiers of math classes (dependent on student’s math deficiencies), Xtreme Reading and Read 180 (dependent on student’s reading deficiencies). We are addressing student weaknesses building wide through our school improvement plan. Subgroups will be identified and interventions are being implemented so that students will be successful in passing their district and state assessments.