The top reported proficiency rate is 89% in Science. The lowest is 86% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Akron Westfield Elementary School
Akron Westfield Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade in the small rural town of Akron, Iowa, near the Big Sioux River and the South Dakota border. The school is part of the Akron-Westfield Community School District, which formed from the merger of the Akron and Westfield districts. Akron itself is a compact community described as the northern gateway to the Loess Hills, with a population that has seen modest growth in recent years. The town’s character is primarily residential and agricultural, with a traditional downtown grid and an active city park board.
This elementary school posts strong academic results on the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress. Proficiency rates across math, English language arts, and science all land at high levels, placing the school in the top quartile among districts in Plymouth County for its overall proficiency index. The math and ELA proficiency rates are both well above the county median, and science proficiency is similarly strong. Participation rates on the assessments were high, which adds weight to the reliability of those scores. With only a single year of data available for this test cycle, there is no trend to examine yet.
The student body is small, with about that number of children in grades K through five, spread fairly evenly across each grade level. The demographic profile is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population of some size and very small numbers of Black and multiracial students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that a meaningful portion of families are working with moderate incomes. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about how those populations are served and how they perform.
Housing values in the area are roughly in line with the state benchmark and below the national figure, reflecting the rural market. For a family moving to the area, home prices are more accessible than in many parts of the country, though specific rental data was not available.
The district recently undertook a major capital construction investment in its facilities, a notable move for a rural district of this size after several prior bond attempts had failed. That suggests a community and administration committed to upgrading physical infrastructure, though the specific scope of the project at the elementary level is not detailed in the available information.
Because the school only serves elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report and no data on college readiness or advanced coursework. A parent looking ahead to middle and high school options would need to look at the district’s secondary schools separately. Overall, this is an elementary school with consistently high test performance in a small-town setting, serving a predominantly white student body with a significant share of lower-income families. The curriculum and day-to-day experience are not detailed in the data, but the academic foundation appears solid by both state and county measures.
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