Charles City Community School District

The Charles City Community School District consists of 4 schools, including 2 elementary schools, 1 middle school, and 1 high school, serving students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. The district is located in Charles City, Iowa, a small city with a population of around 7,500 people.

Among the schools in the district, Charles City Middle School stands out as the highest-ranked school, ranking 247 out of 337 Iowa middle schools for the 2023-2024 school year. The school also boasts the highest proficiency rates in English Language Arts and Mathematics across all grade levels compared to the district and state averages, and maintains a relatively low student-teacher ratio of 14.5. In contrast, Washington Elementary School has the lowest student-teacher ratio of 12 among the schools in the district, but also spends the most per student at $15,875, which is higher than the other elementary school and the high school.

The district as a whole faces some challenges, with a significant proportion of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, ranging from 46.63% to 63.2% across the schools. This indicates a relatively high level of economic disadvantage among the student population, which may contribute to the academic performance gaps observed between the schools and the state averages. The district has an opportunity to identify the factors contributing to the stronger performance of Charles City Middle School and apply those strategies to the other schools, while also addressing the socioeconomic challenges faced by the student population to improve overall academic outcomes.