The top reported proficiency rate is 71% in English language arts. The lowest is 65% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on East Mills Jr/sr High School
East Mills Jr/Sr High School is a regular public school serving a single combined campus for grades seven through twelve in the small rural community of Malvern, Iowa. The school is part of the East Mills Comm School District, which recently completed a major change: in 2021, district voters approved a bond to relocate the elementary school to the same campus, consolidating all grades PK-12 in Malvern. Construction finished by the fall of 2024, meaning the building now houses the full grade spectrum. This consolidation shapes daily life for families—all children attend one site, but it also means the former elementary building elsewhere is gone.
Academically, the school’s state test results from the most recent year show a solid proficiency rate in English language arts among its tested students. Math proficiency is moderately lower, and science proficiency, based on a smaller tested group, comes in at roughly the same level as math. Taken together, the school’s overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint among the two school districts in Mills County. That is a positive marker: East Mills Jr/Sr High performs better than one local district on this combined measure, though it trails the other. The district brief also mentions the launch of SWITCH (Southwest Iowa Technical Career Hub) in 2022, a career and technical education center on the Hastings Campus that gives students access to pathways not previously available. That is a concrete addition to the academic program, especially for families interested in hands-on career preparation alongside traditional coursework.
Enrollment is small, typical for a rural secondary school of about this size. The student body is predominantly white, with a small share of Hispanic students, a slightly larger share of students identifying as two or more races, and very small numbers of Black and American Indian students. Just over a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a sizable but not overwhelming share of families with lower incomes. The school receives federal Title I funding, a detail that matters for understanding the level of federal support, but no specific program data tied to that designation was available.
The surrounding town of Malvern is compact and walkable around a Main Street lined with cafes, bars, a gallery, and a handful of small businesses. The Wabash Trace Nature Trail, a converted rail trail, runs through the heart of town and gives residents and students access to outdoor recreation. The town has a swimming pool, a golf course, a public library, and a county fairground just south of the town limits. Historically an agricultural and poultry-processing center, Malvern lost many of those large employers decades ago and now has a small-scale economy of local services, civic offices, and agriculture-related enterprises. It is not a place of rapid growth; the population has been stable to slightly declining. Housing values in the zip code are close to the statewide benchmark, and typical mortgage costs are moderate by national standards.
The school’s attendance rate and chronic absenteeism figures were not available in the data. Discipline and staffing information were also absent. These are gaps a parent may want to investigate directly with the school, especially for a secondary campus that includes older students where attendance patterns can affect performance and graduation.
What this picture adds up to: East Mills Jr/Sr High is a rural consolidated campus with a combined PK-12 facility, competitive test scores among its county peers, and a new career and technical education hub that broadens what the school can offer beyond traditional academics. The student population is small and largely homogeneous, the town is stable and quiet with modest amenities, and the district has invested in its physical plant and program reach. It fits a family looking for a small, close-knit secondary school in a low-growth rural community, with decent academic outcomes and a practical pathway option in career education.
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