Essex Community School District

The Essex Community School District in Iowa consists of two schools: Essex Elementary School and Essex Junior-Senior High School. While the high school has consistently performed exceptionally well on state assessments, with many grade levels achieving proficiency rates well above the state average, the elementary school's performance has been more mixed, with some grade levels performing above the state average and others below.

The high school has maintained a 4-star rating from SchoolDigger for the past three school years, indicating strong academic performance. In the 2022-2023 school year, the high school ranked 73 out of 336 Iowa high schools, a remarkable achievement. In contrast, the elementary school has a relatively high free and reduced lunch rate of 60.55%, suggesting a greater concentration of economically disadvantaged students, which may contribute to the lower academic performance.

The district-level scores for both the elementary and high school are generally lower than the state averages, indicating room for improvement. The district may need to explore strategies to address the needs of economically disadvantaged students and ensure equitable distribution of resources across all schools to provide a well-rounded and equitable education for all students in the Essex Community School District.