The top reported proficiency rate is 69% in Math. The lowest is 49% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Grant Wood Elementary School
Grant Wood Elementary School is a regular public school in Bettendorf, Iowa, serving prekindergarten through fifth grade. It is one of five elementary schools in the Bettendorf Community School District and sits in a residential neighborhood on the city’s west side. The school enrolls a mid-sized elementary population. The student body is majority white, with a substantial Black and Hispanic presence, along with small shares of Asian and multiracial students. About half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure that reflects the economic diversity of the attendance zone.
Academic results come from Iowa’s ISASP assessments, taken by students in third through fifth grade. In both math and English language arts, the share of students scoring proficient or above is solidly above state averages, signaling that most students meet grade-level expectations. Science proficiency, assessed at the fifth grade level, is markedly lower—roughly half of students reached the proficient bar. That gap between literacy and numeracy on one hand and science on the other is a pattern a parent may want to ask the school about, particularly how science instruction is structured in the earlier grades. Only one year of testing data is available here, so no trend can be drawn.
Compared against other districts in Scott County, Grant Wood’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits below the midpoint. That comparison is a school-level index placed against district-level peers, which is an unusual frame; still, the position suggests that while the school’s core results are respectable, other districts in the county post higher combined rates.
Bettendorf itself is a predominantly residential city that forms part of the Quad Cities metro area along the Mississippi River. Its economy has deep roots in manufacturing—the ALCOA aluminum mill in the Riverdale enclave drove decades of growth—and more recently the riverfront casino and convention center have become civic and commercial anchors. The housing market in the school’s ZIP code is notably expensive relative to the state and national medians. Home values have risen in the past year, and rents have also increased, putting the area well above typical costs for Iowa. The 30-year mortgage rate recently hovered around the low six percent range, and the national unemployment rate has been steady at just over four percent. For a family moving to Bettendorf, the city’s steady population growth and the recent I-74 bridge redevelopment signal a suburban area that is actively reinvesting in its downtown corridor, though the built environment remains auto-oriented outside the riverfront.
Because Grant Wood is an elementary school, it does not have a graduation rate, and no data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, staffing ratios, or course access was available in the research. Nor were any specialized program offerings—such as magnet, dual-language, or gifted tracks—reported. The school is not a charter and does not appear to have Title I status on record. For a parent weighing options, what stands out is a school with solid math and reading results in the middle grades, a pronounced science gap worth investigating, and a demographically mixed student body situated in a relatively high-cost Quad Cities suburb. The lack of program detail means families should seek that information directly from the school or district to understand what enrichment or support services are available.
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