Best High Schools in Iowa

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Find the best Iowa high 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 338)	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)
193048001738	271	West High School	Public	9-12	425 E Ridgeway Ave	Waterloo	50702	Black Hawk County	Waterloo Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(319) 433-2700	1,652	97	17.1	62.4%	818 (49.5%)	323 (19.6%)	239 (14.5%)	93 (5.6%)	3 (0.2%)	65 (3.9%)	111 (6.7%)	$13,055			$432			$12,622	29.5	31.6	263	8
190708000319	272	Charles City High School	Public	9-12	1 Comet Dr	Charles City	50616	Floyd County	Charles City Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(641) 257-6510	534	37	14.4	46.6%	415 (77.7%)	43 (8.1%)	42 (7.9%)	12 (2.2%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (3.7%)	$15,516			$694			$14,823	28.8	18.9	294	22
192181001299	273	Orient-Macksburg Senior High School	Public	7-12	201 S. School Street	Orient	50858	Adair County	Orient-Macksburg Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(641) 352-4800	66	0		65.2%	61 (92.4%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (4.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (3.0%)	$15,650			$175			$15,474	28.3	47	202	71
191812001036	274	MFL MarMac High School	Public	9-12	700 S Page St	Monona	52159	Clayton County	MFL MarMac Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(563) 539-2031	262	17	15.2	30.9%	253 (96.6%)	1 (0.4%)	4 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	3 (1.1%)	$16,880			$310			$16,571	28.2	38.3	239	35
190465000129	275	Bellevue High School	Public	6-12	1601 State St	Bellevue	52031	Jackson County	Bellevue Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(563) 872-4001	362	23	15.5	25.7%	344 (95.0%)	5 (1.4%)	3 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (2.8%)	$11,569			$264			$11,304	28.1	45.1	214	61
192334001378	276	John R Mott Junior/High School	Public	7-12	314 W Post	Postville	52162	Allamakee County	Postville Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(563) 864-7652	351	25	14.1	75.2%	98 (27.9%)	21 (6.0%)	229 (65.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.9%)	$14,210			$413			$13,796	27.6	20.3	293	17
199901902323	277	Southeast Valley High School	Public	9-12	1005 Riddle St	Gowrie	50543	Webster County	Southeast Valley Community School District	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(515) 352-3142	0				0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()								27.3			(n/a)
191971001157	278	Moravia High School	Public	6-12	505 N Trussell Avenue	Moravia	52571	Appanoose County	Moravia Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(641) 724-3241	224	15	15.2	49.1%	207 (92.4%)	4 (1.8%)	4 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (4.0%)	$13,670			$229			$13,440	27.1	15.8	297	19
191470002288	279	ICCSD Pk-12 Online Learning Program	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	1725 N Dodge Street	Iowa City	52245	Johnson County	Iowa City Community School District	No	(n/a)	Yes	Yes	(319) 688-1000	199	19	10.7	43.7%	91 (45.7%)	47 (23.6%)	24 (12.1%)	9 (4.5%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (11.6%)								25.9	20.4	292	13
190357000061	280	Anamosa High School	Public	9-12	209 Sadie St	Anamosa	52205	Jones County	Anamosa Community School District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(319) 462-3594	397	27	14.7	39.0%	365 (91.9%)	3 (0.8%)	12 (3.0%)	9 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (2.0%)	$15,007			$308			$14,699	25.4	45.6	209	71

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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:

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Transforming Education in America

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education