Summary:
The city of Eldon, Iowa is home to three schools that serve students from elementary through high school: Cardinal Elementary, Cardinal Junior High, and Cardinal High School. While the schools share the same district, Cardinal Community School District, they exhibit varying levels of performance and rankings, with Cardinal Junior High and Cardinal High School standing out as the top-performing schools in the area.
Cardinal Junior High ranks 193 out of 337 Iowa middle schools, the highest among the three Eldon schools. It consistently performs above the district and state averages in English Language Arts and Mathematics proficiency across all grade levels, particularly excelling in 7th and 8th grade English Language Arts. Similarly, Cardinal High School ranks 245 out of 338 Iowa high schools, the highest in the district, and stands out for its strong performance in 9th grade English Language Arts, with 82% of students proficient or better, significantly higher than the district and state averages.
While the schools in Eldon generally lag behind the state averages in English Language Arts and Mathematics proficiency, the data suggests that addressing the overall academic underperformance and exploring the potential relationship between socioeconomic status and student achievement could be valuable areas of focus for the district. The variation in school ranking and performance within the same district also indicates the need to identify and share best practices from the higher-performing schools to support improvement at the lower-performing Cardinal Elementary.
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