The top reported proficiency rate is 59% in Math. The lowest is 43% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Lenihan Intermediate School
Lenihan Intermediate School serves only fifth and sixth graders in the Marshalltown Community School District, making it a short but important bridge between elementary and the upper grades. Because the school stops at sixth grade, there is no graduation rate to report, and because state testing begins in third grade, the academic results you will read about here are a direct measure of what these middle-elementary students are achieving.
The student body is diverse and economically disadvantaged at a high rate. A large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker that often correlates with greater need for support services. Racially and ethnically, the largest group is Hispanic, followed by white students, with meaningful shares of Asian, Black, multiracial, American Indian, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. This is not a school where a single background dominates; a family would find considerable variety in the peer environment.
On the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress, which the state uses to measure proficiency, Lenihan's results for the most recent year place the school's overall proficiency across tested subjects in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Marshall County. In math, roughly half or more of students met the proficiency standard. In English language arts, the share was a bit lower. In science, tested only in fifth grade, the share was lower still. Because only a single year of assessment data is available, there is no multi-year trend to indicate whether performance is improving, declining, or holding steady. A parent may want to ask the school directly about what academic supports are in place for students who are not yet at the proficient level.
The school itself is a regular public school, neither a charter nor a magnet. It does not have a Title I status listed in the profile, which is an unusual gap; many schools with this level of economic need receive federal Title I funding, so a parent may want to clarify that with the district. No data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, staffing ratios, course access, or attendance was available in the source material, so those dimensions cannot be characterized here.
The community Lenihan draws from is Marshalltown, the county seat of Marshall County and a regional employment hub in north-central Iowa. The city has a deep manufacturing and food-processing base, including major employers in pork processing, industrial valve and regulator manufacturing, furnace and air-conditioning production, and tool manufacturing. The school district itself is one of the largest local employers. Marshalltown's population has remained relatively stable in recent years, edging up slightly from the last federal census. The downtown and historic courthouse area suffered severe damage from a tornado several years ago, and the city has been working on recovery and reinvestment. Iowa Highway 30 provides a direct expressway connection to Des Moines, which is about an hour's drive to the southwest. For a family considering this school, the community offers a mix of industrial employment, a stable population, and a downtown that is slowly rebuilding. The housing market, based on the available data, is more affordable than the state average and well below the national typical home value, with rents that are also below national benchmarks.
Because Lenihan Intermediate is a mid-level school with a short grade span, a parent's decision is often tied to the full K-12 pathway the district offers. The district's overall performance is not directly measured here, but for a fifth or sixth grader at Lenihan, the academic environment is one where proficiency rates are lower than those in many other Marshall County districts, and where a large portion of students come from households with economic need. A family looking for a school with broad diversity, a community with a strong industrial base, and affordable housing may find it a fit, while those prioritizing high, peer-level academic proficiency may want to investigate what targeted interventions Lenihan provides.
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