Two Shawnee County School Districts Ranked Among Top 10

The Greater Topeka Partnership is proud to announce that the ranking and review site Niche.com has named two Shawnee County school districts to its top-10 list of the “2023 Best School Districts in Kansas.” 

Auburn Washburn Unified School District was recognized overall as the No. 5 best school system in the state! It also ranked No. 11 — out of more than 280 districts — for “Best Teachers in Kansas” and No. 11 for “Best School Districts for Athletes in Kansas.” Meanwhile, Silver Lake Unified School District was recognized as the No. 9 best school system in the state! It also ranked No. 3 for “Best Teachers in Kansas” and No. 10 for “Best School Districts for Athletes in Kansas.”

“Auburn Washburn is proud to be recognized again by Niche.com as a top-five school district in the state of Kansas,” said Superintendent Scott McWilliams, of Auburn Washburn USD 437. “Our district is known across the region for its pursuit of excellence and the success of our students. We are thrilled to see the hard work of our staff and teachers acknowledged once again.”

“Families choose Silver Lake schools knowing that their students will receive an incredible academic and extracurricular experience,” said Brad Womack, Superintendent of Silver Lake USD 372. “We are proud to be recognized by Niche.com as a top-10 school system in Kansas. I am also excited, but not surprised, to see that our educators are ranked No. 3 in the state! The hard work and dedication of our teachers and faculty make our success possible.”

According to the latest rankings, Shawnee and Johnson counties are the only two counties in the state of Kansas to boast multiple top-10 schools. Niche.com, according to its website, features the most comprehensive data available on U.S. schools and neighborhoods, and each year analyzes dozens of public data sets and more than 100 million reviews and survey responses to produce its annual rankings.

“Shawnee County continues to be a great place for families with school-aged children,” said Trina Goss, GO Topeka’s director of business and talent initiatives. “The fact that we’ve had multiple districts make Niche’s top-10 list for the year is a testament to that! All of our area districts have something great to offer students and their families, and it’s so exciting to see a couple standouts recognized here.”

“We placed a big emphasis during our last Momentum strategy on developing homegrown talent, which meant further supporting our local school districts as they educated the future leaders of Topeka and Shawnee County,” said Michelle Cuevas-Stubblefield, senior vice president of strategy for the Greater Topeka Partnership. “Through Momentum 2027, which officially launched this year, we’ll continue to uplift and expand educational opportunities in the area through the plan’s ‘Cradle through Career’ and ‘Access to Opportunity’ objectives. Our community is dedicated to the success of all students, and our area school districts are primary players in fulfilling that mission. Congratulations to those recognized!”