Best Middle Schools in Iowa

A teacher high-fives a student in a classroom.

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.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

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)
192931001680	101	Vinton-Shellsburg Middle School	Public	6-8	212 W. 15th St.	Vinton	52349	Benton County	Vinton-Shellsburg Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(319) 436-4728	318	21	14.9	42.5%	294 (92.5%)	2 (0.6%)	8 (2.5%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (3.8%)	$11,566			$339			$11,227	68.1	79.3	42	59
191098000679	102	English Valleys Junior-Senior High School	Public	6-12	765 West Broad Street	North English	52316	Iowa County	English Valleys Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(319) 664-3631	231	18	13	48.5%	201 (87.0%)	8 (3.5%)	15 (6.5%)	2 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (2.2%)	$17,392			$250			$17,142	68	59	153	51
191545000926	103	Johnston Middle School	Public	8-9	6501 NW 62nd Ave	Johnston	50131	Polk County	Johnston Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(515) 278-0476	1,166	64	18.1	24.0%	821 (70.4%)	100 (8.6%)	83 (7.1%)	93 (8.0%)	3 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	66 (5.7%)	$11,024			$470			$10,555	68	68.3	97	6
192025002072	104	Nevada Middle School	Public	5-8	1035 15th St	Nevada	50201	Story County	Nevada Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(515) 382-2751	443	30	14.8	36.8%	368 (83.1%)	3 (0.7%)	44 (9.9%)	4 (0.9%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (5.2%)	$12,308			$518			$11,790	67.9	65.6	108	4
191323000796	105	Griswold Middle/High School	Public	6-12	20 Madison St.	Griswold	51535	Cass County	Griswold Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(712) 778-2154	200	19	10.7	31.0%	187 (93.5%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (4.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (2.0%)	$15,962			$309			$15,653	67.8	59.7	149	44
193051000931	106	Prairieview School	Public	8-9	655 SE University Ave	Waukee	50263	Dallas County	Waukee Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(515) 987-2770	1,039	60	17.1	12.8%	807 (77.7%)	48 (4.6%)	61 (5.9%)	58 (5.6%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	64 (6.2%)	$12,062			$173			$11,889	67.7	68.8	92	14
191965002000	107	Monticello Middle School	Public	5-8	860 East Oak Street	Monticello	52310	Jones County	Monticello Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(319) 465-3000	299	21	14.2	33.8%	269 (90.0%)	7 (2.3%)	12 (4.0%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (3.0%)	$18,750			$360			$18,390	66.9	66.1	103	4
191533002051	108	Jesup Middle School	Public	5-8	531 Prospect	Jesup	50648	Buchanan County	Jesup Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(319) 827-1700	252	16	15.9	20.6%	243 (96.4%)	1 (0.4%)	2 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (2.4%)	$9,239			$118			$9,121	66.8	80.9	33	75
190762000364	109	Clear Lake Middle School	Public	6-8	1601 3rd Ave North	Clear Lake	50428	Cerro Gordo County	Clear Lake Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(641) 357-6114	334	22	15.3	32.0%	284 (85.0%)	8 (2.4%)	21 (6.3%)	2 (0.6%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (5.4%)	$13,904			$318			$13,586	66.6	67	100	9
193078001776	110	West Burlington Arnold Junior/Senior High School	Public	6-12	408 W Van Weiss Blvd	West Burlington	52655	Des Moines County	West Burlington Ind School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(319) 752-8747	487	31	15.5	40.7%	350 (71.9%)	36 (7.4%)	28 (5.7%)	13 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	60 (12.3%)	$21,092			$147			$20,945	66.5	50.1	190	80

Sign up for updates!

Be the first to know when we update our rankings!

Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for Iowa

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison