DOWNS, Kansas (KSN) -- The Waconda school district, in north central Kansas, is celebrating a lot of winning these days. Its football team is 8-0 but it's the winning in the classroom that's earned it national attention.
The district has fewer than 400 students from Downs, Glen Elder, Cawker City and Tipton, but consistently outperforms larger, more affluent schools. It seems while no one was looking, these students turned in the second highest math scores in the country.
"It's a tradition that's started here and it's going to stay here," said Jeff Travis, USD 272 superintendent.
Yahoo News notes the district has outperformed 90 percent of students in 20 developed countries, citing a report from The Global Report Card. The only district that scored better is in wealthy Pelham, Massachusetts. In Waconda, 65 percent of students live at the poverty level.
"Our kids don't realize they are living in poverty and they achieve," said Travis.
Achieving so well, teachers and administrators here expect 85 percent of their students to go to college.
"The question is not will you go to college, its where will you go to college?" said Linda Groenendyk, a teacher in the district. "I think that's what makes our community strong, we expect our students to go to college and they do."
The school's cafeteria shows its pride -- as banners highlight academic honors as well as athletic ones.
"Good education goes a long way with sports too," said Jakob Brush, senior.
In addition to ranking second to math -- the district ranked 18th in reading in that most recent Global Report Card.
