The top reported proficiency rate is 82% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Kingsley Elementary School
Kingsley Elementary serves kindergarten through fourth grade in the small rural town of Kingsley, part of the Kingsley-Pierson Community School District in Plymouth County, Iowa. The town, surrounded by farmland and in the Sioux City metropolitan area, has a compact downtown with a range of local businesses and medical professionals. Housing is predominantly owner-occupied, and while the community saw a period of population growth and new home construction, more recent data shows a population decline alongside rising home values. The elementary school and the high school share a single address within town, while middle school students attend classes in the nearby community of Pierson. The district has publicly considered shifting to a four-day school week, a structural change that would directly affect family schedules and childcare arrangements if adopted.
The school’s enrollment is small, as is typical for its grade band in a town of this size. The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population making up a modest share. A notable portion of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that some families face economic need. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available in the source materials, so the extent of those supports is not clear from the information provided.
On the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress for the most recent testing year, a large majority of Kingsley Elementary students scored at or above the proficient level in both math and English language arts. Performance in these subjects was roughly even, with proficiency rates that place the school above the midpoint when compared with other districts in Plymouth County. Participation rates on the assessments were high, which lends confidence to the results. The school’s proficiency index, which averages the reported rates across tested subjects and grades, positioned it above the middle of the small set of county districts. Only one year of this assessment data was available, so a trendline cannot yet be drawn.
Because the school serves only through fourth grade, it has no graduation rate to report, and chronic absenteeism data was not present in the available records. Students who continue in the district will go on to a middle school in Pierson and then to Kingsley-Pierson High School, but the academic results for those later grades are not part of this profile.
The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. No information was available on course access, staffing ratios, or discipline rates, leaving those aspects of the school environment uncharacterized. For a family considering Kingsley Elementary, the picture is of a small, rural elementary school delivering solid proficiency outcomes for its early-grades students, within a community that has been stable over time and is part of a district weighing a significant schedule change. Parents may want to inquire directly with the school about special education services, English learner support, and any enrichment or intervention programs offered, as those details were not captured in this data.
See more original research from School Decision →