The top reported proficiency rate is 86% in Science. The lowest is 81% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Janesville Junior-senior High School
Janesville Junior-Senior High School is the single secondary campus of the Janesville Consolidated School District, serving grades six through twelve in a small town that straddles the Bremer–Black Hawk county line along the Cedar River. The school sits at 505 Barrick Road, near the downtown core of Janesville, a community that has grown steadily since the mid-1990s, when a four-lane highway bypass improved access to the Waterloo–Cedar Falls metro area. New residential subdivisions have continued to appear, and the school district itself has undertaken notable expansions in recent decades, adding a new gymnasium, elementary wing, library, and classrooms. The town functions largely as a bedroom community for the metro area, and most employed residents commute out for work.
State testing data from the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP) is available only for grades six through eight, the middle school grades enrolled at this school. In math, a large majority of those tested students scored at the proficient level or above. In English language arts, the proficiency rate was similarly high. In science, the rate was about the same. Participation in the assessments was universal, which strengthens the reliability of the results. Compared with the six other school districts in Bremer County, Janesville Junior-Senior High School’s overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grades falls in the top quartile. This is a clear academic strength for the middle school program. No multi-year trend data is available because only a single year of results was reported, so families cannot see whether performance is rising or slipping over time.
The school enrolls roughly two hundred and twenty students across grades six through twelve, making it a small secondary school. The student body is overwhelmingly white, with only a handful of Hispanic students and a similar number identifying as two or more races. About one in six students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate well below the national average and a sign that the community is relatively economically stable. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported, so a parent seeking information on special education or language support may want to ask the school directly.
No four-year graduation rate is available in this data set. Since the school serves all of grades nine through twelve, a parent looking for an outcome measure for the high school program would need to consult the school or district for that number. Chronic absenteeism data is also absent.
Housing in Janesville appears moderately priced relative to national benchmarks, and the local market has seen modest year-over-year appreciation. The town’s growth trajectory—buoyed by the highway connection, ongoing subdivision development, and school facility investments—suggests a stable or slowly growing population. The built environment combines a traditional Main Street downtown with newer suburban-style housing. The Cedar River has caused periodic flooding that prompted evacuations and road closures, but no permanent damage has altered the town’s character.
This is a small, rural-adjacent secondary school with strong middle school academic results and a homogeneous student population. The high school component is harder to evaluate from the available data because no graduation rate or course access information was provided. Parents who value a close-knit setting, high proficiency rates on state tests, and a community that is growing but still compact may find this a comfortable fit. Those who want detailed evidence of high school outcomes or program breadth will likely need to follow up directly with the school. No recent district-level changes of note were publicly reported.
See more original research from School Decision →