The top reported proficiency rate is 71% in Math. The lowest is 58% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on George Washington Elementary School
George Washington Elementary School serves fourth and fifth graders in Keokuk, a small Mississippi River city in Iowa’s southeast corner. The school is one of the elementary buildings within the Keokuk Community School District, and it sits on North 8th Street, integrated into a residential and downtown-adjacent neighborhood rather than set apart on a large campus.
Keokuk itself is a city in transition. Its population has declined over many decades from a earlier peak, and its economic base has shifted from river trade and railroad transshipment to local manufacturing, wholesale distribution, and the Lock and Dam No. 19 hydroelectric plant. The built environment includes a historic Main Street, the Grand Theatre performing arts center, and several museums and parks. Housing in the area is priced well below national and state benchmarks, with values that have softened recently. For a family considering the school, this is a place where the cost of living is low and the community is compact, but the overall trajectory is one of contraction rather than growth.
The student body at George Washington is majority white, with a smaller share of students who identify as two or more races and very small numbers of Black, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian or Alaska Native students. More than half of the school’s students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which indicates that a substantial portion of families are managing on modest incomes. A parent looking at this school should understand that the economic context of the community shapes the classroom experience here.
On state assessments, George Washington’s students posted results that position the school below the midpoint among the three districts in Lee County. In math, a solid majority of students scored at the proficient level or above. In English language arts, the share was also above half but slightly lower. Science results, which come from a smaller testing group, were the weakest of the three subjects, with a majority still scoring proficient but a narrower one. These are the first year of data available for this school under the current assessment, so there is no trend line to compare against. Families should note that the school serves only two grade levels, and the testing reflects that narrow band.
Because the school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. Data on special education identification and English learner status were not available in the records reviewed. Information on chronic absenteeism and discipline was also absent. These are gaps a parent may wish to follow up on with the school directly.
No recent district-level changes of note were found in publicly available sources, so the context for families considering George Washington is largely the existing academic picture and the community’s steady, slow decline in population and economic shift. The school offers a regular public elementary program for the two upper-elementary grades, and it sits within a small district operating across a river city where civic anchors like the public library, parks, and a community college campus are part of the daily fabric. For a family that values a low-cost, small-city environment and whose child is in fourth or fifth grade, this school represents a straightforward, if unremarkable, option. For those focused on academic performance benchmarks, the results are modest relative to the rest of the county, and the lack of multi-year data makes it hard to gauge direction.
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