Best Middle Schools in Iowa

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Find the best Iowa middle schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish Iowa test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the ISASP test scores by the Iowa Department of Education. The most recent update was on Wednesday, September 18, 2024.

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School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 337)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)
190906000594	281	Diagonal Junior-Senior High School	Public	6-12	403 W 2nd Street	Diagonal	50845	Ringgold County	Diagonal Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(641) 734-5331	62	6	10.4	43.5%	61 (98.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$16,743			$802			$15,941	26.4			(n/a)
191896001122	282	Melcher-Dallas High School	Public	7-12	214 S Main	Melcher	50163	Marion County	Melcher-Dallas Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(641) 947-3731	153	15	10.3	34.0%	148 (96.7%)	2 (1.3%)	3 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$17,935			$366			$17,567	26.1	50.5	187	95
190948000620	283	George Washington Middle School	Public	6-8	51 N Grandview Ave	Dubuque	52001	Dubuque County	Dubuque Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(563) 552-4800	624	53	11.6	49.8%	418 (67.0%)	95 (15.2%)	41 (6.6%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (3.5%)	45 (7.2%)	$14,915			$508			$14,407	25.2	35	246	37
191755001019	284	Lone Tree Middle-Senior High School	Public	6-12	303 S Devoe St	Lone Tree	52755	Johnson County	Lone Tree Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(319) 629-4610	214	18	12.2	25.2%	191 (89.3%)	0 (0.0%)	19 (8.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.9%)	$13,078			$319			$12,759	24.3	33.3	252	32
190006000179	285	GMG Secondary School	Public	7-12	306 Park Street	Garwin	50632	Tama County	GMG Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(641) 499-2005	211	19	11.1	44.5%	194 (91.9%)	6 (2.8%)	5 (2.4%)	6 (2.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$14,599			$177			$14,421	23.4	32.2	256	29
193024001705	286	Washington Middle School	Public	6-8	313 S. 4th Ave.	Washington	52353	Washington County	Washington Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(319) 653-5414	350	30	11.6	53.4%	258 (73.7%)	8 (2.3%)	65 (18.6%)	2 (0.6%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	15 (4.3%)	$13,172			$690			$12,482	23.4	26.2	278	8
190678000285	287	Central City High School	Public	6-12	400 Barber Street	Central City	52214	Linn County	Central City Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(319) 438-6182	228	21	10.8	29.4%	211 (92.5%)	6 (2.6%)	4 (1.8%)	3 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.8%)	$15,375			$264			$15,111	23.2	21.6	286	1
191034000658	288	River Valley Junior- Senior High School	Public	6-12	916 Hackberry St	Correctionville	51016	Woodbury County	River Valley Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(712) 372-4656	168	17	10.1	54.2%	155 (92.3%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (3.6%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (3.6%)	$14,395			$258			$14,136	22.6	14	307	19
192061002240	289	Berg Middle School	Public	5-8	1900 N 5th Ave East	Newton	50208	Jasper County	Newton Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(641) 792-7741	841	61	13.8	55.2%	693 (82.4%)	31 (3.7%)	62 (7.4%)	3 (0.4%)	4 (0.5%)	1 (0.1%)	47 (5.6%)	$14,159			$320			$13,839	22.3	30.4	263	26
191185000734	290	Fort Madison Middle School	Public	4-8	502 48th Street	Fort Madison	52627	Lee County	Fort Madison Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(319) 372-4687	695	51	13.7	56.4%	573 (82.4%)	25 (3.6%)	48 (6.9%)	3 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	45 (6.5%)	$17,605			$465			$17,140	21.8	27.5	272	18

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About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on ISASP English Language Arts, ISASP Mathematics, ISASP Science test scores released by the Iowa Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on September 18, 2024, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the Iowa Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the Iowa Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences