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)
192868001660	201	Urbandale Middle School	Public	6-8	7701 Aurora Avenue	Urbandale	50322	Polk County	Urbandale Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(515) 457-6600	894	57	15.8	40.6%	581 (65.0%)	84 (9.4%)	125 (14.0%)	53 (5.9%)	2 (0.2%)	3 (0.3%)	46 (5.1%)	$8,993			$119			$8,874	49.3	49.1	197	4
192682001573	202	Southeast Polk Junior High	Public	7-8	8325 NE University Ave.	Pleasant Hill	50327	Polk County	Southeast Polk Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(515) 967-5509	1,088	66	16.4	36.8%	794 (73.0%)	102 (9.4%)	104 (9.6%)	25 (2.3%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	61 (5.6%)	$13,053			$388			$12,665	49.2	59.3	150	52
190575001620	203	North Iowa Middle School	Public	6-8	111 3rd Ave NW	Buffalo Center	50424	Winnebago County	North Iowa Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(641) 562-2525	107	10	11.1	38.3%	91 (85.0%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (15.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$13,756			$463			$13,293	49.1	44	214	11
190960000630	204	Durant Junior/Senior High School	Public	7-12	408 7th St	Durant	52747	Cedar County	Durant Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(563) 785-4431	340	25	13.7	31.8%	320 (94.1%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (2.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (2.9%)	$12,873			$107			$12,768	48.8	60.3	143	61
192607001483	205	Shenandoah Middle School	Public	5-8	601 Dr. Creighton Circle	Shenandoah	51601	Page County	Shenandoah Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(712) 246-2520	296	22	13.7	38.2%	267 (90.2%)	1 (0.3%)	16 (5.4%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (3.4%)	$12,890			$81			$12,810	48.3	44.1	211	6
192805001638	206	Tripoli Middle/Senior High School	Public	6-12	209 8th Ave SW	Tripoli	50676	Bremer County	Tripoli Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(319) 882-4202	185	21	8.8	43.2%	170 (91.9%)	2 (1.1%)	4 (2.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (4.9%)	$15,113			$291			$14,821	47.3	54.8	176	30
191107000686	207	Estherville Lincoln Central Middle School	Public	5-8	1430 1st Ave. S.	Estherville	51334	Emmet County	Estherville Lincoln Central Com School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(712) 362-2335	312	29	10.6	52.6%	210 (67.3%)	4 (1.3%)	88 (28.2%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (2.6%)	$14,122			$205			$13,917	47.3	45.9	205	2
190786002110	208	Prairie Point	Public	7-9	8015 Kirkwood Blvd	Cedar Rapids	52404	Linn County	College Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(319) 848-5500	1,324	77	17.2	34.5%	953 (72.0%)	152 (11.5%)	81 (6.1%)	21 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (0.8%)	105 (7.9%)	$11,981			$180			$11,800	47.1	47.7	200	8
191401000840	209	Highland Middle School	Public	6-8	1715 Vine Avenue	Riverside	52327	Washington County	Highland Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(319) 648-2891	111	8	14.1	12.6%	104 (93.7%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (2.7%)	$11,058			$57			$11,001	47	60.4	142	67
193051002222	210	Timberline School	Public	8-9	2605 SE LA Grant Parkway	Waukee	50263	Dallas County	Waukee Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(515) 987-9444	889	60	14.8	25.5%	564 (63.4%)	96 (10.8%)	74 (8.3%)	83 (9.3%)	4 (0.4%)	2 (0.2%)	66 (7.4%)	$11,911			$176			$11,734	46.9	62.2	129	81

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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.

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