The top reported proficiency rate is 85% in Math. The lowest is 66% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Mediapolis Elementary School
Mediapolis Elementary School serves students in prekindergarten through fifth grade within the Mediapolis Community School District. The school is a regular public school, not a charter, and its grade band means there is no graduation rate to report here. State testing data is available for grades three through five, which is the standard tested range. The school sits on the north side of Mediapolis, a small, predominantly residential rural community in Des Moines County that is part of the Burlington micropolitan area. The town has a mix of single-family homes and local businesses, and the community tends to be family-oriented and conservative-leaning. The school campus is separated from the town center, which is a common pattern in small rural districts where the school serves both the town and the surrounding countryside.
On the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP) during the most recent testing year, Mediapolis Elementary showed a pattern where proficiency in math and English Language Arts was solid, while science lagged behind. In both math and ELA, the share of students scoring proficient or above was high. Science proficiency was more moderate. This kind of subject gap is not unusual at the elementary level, but a parent may want to ask how the school approaches science instruction in the early grades. Participation rates on the tests were high, which is a positive indicator that the school is getting nearly all eligible students to sit for the exams. Compared to other districts in Des Moines County, Mediapolis Elementary’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint. The comparison set includes four districts in the county, so this places Mediapolis in the stronger half of its immediate neighbors.
The student body is predominantly white, with much smaller shares of Hispanic students, students identifying as two or more races, Black students, and American Indian or Alaska Native students. More than a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a meaningful number of families with lower incomes. Data on students with Individualized Education Programs and English learners was not available, so a parent with a child who has specialized learning needs or who is learning English would want to follow up directly with the school about those supports. Discipline data and chronic absenteeism figures were also not available in the data provided, so that is another area where a parent might seek further information from the school or district.
Housing in the area is affordable relative to national benchmarks. Home values in the Mediapolis ZIP code are below both the state and national averages, which is consistent with a small rural community. The housing market has seen moderate appreciation, and the town shows stable, slow population growth. The local economy is anchored by the school district itself and by the US Gypsum Sperry mine, a heavy industrial employer located outside of town. Families moving here can expect a quiet rural setting with a single school campus that houses elementary through high school grades nearby, though separated from the traditional downtown core.
The district brief did not identify any major recent changes such as bond measures, leadership turnover, or program eliminations or additions, suggesting a period of relative stability. For a family considering Mediapolis, the elementary school offers a solid academic profile in the basics for a school of its size and setting, with a student population that is not very diverse and a community that is small and largely conservative. The main open question a parent would want to clarify is how the school addresses the subject gap in science and what supports exist for students with special needs or English learning needs, since those data points were not available here.
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