The top reported proficiency rate is 85% in English language arts. The lowest is 64% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Southeast Warren Intermediate
Southeast Warren Intermediate serves fourth through sixth grade in the small, primarily residential rural town of Lacona, Iowa. The school is one of three buildings in the Southeast Warren Community School District, with the elementary school in Milo and the junior-senior high school in Liberty Center. Lacona itself is car-dependent, with most residents commuting alone and owning two cars per household on average. The local economy is small, led by retail trade, educational services, and construction. The population has been declining slightly in recent years, though employment grew and median property values rose over the same period. Housing values in the area sit above the state benchmark, and a home purchase is more expensive than renting on a monthly basis.
The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it enrolls a small student body for its grade band. The student population is predominantly white, with a modest share of Hispanic students and a very small number of students identifying as two or more races. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on special education identification and English learner status was not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about how those populations are served.
On state testing, Southeast Warren Intermediate posted strong results in English language arts, with a large majority of students scoring proficient or above. Math proficiency was also solid. Science proficiency was lower, sitting at a level that a parent may want to discuss with the school to understand how that subject is taught and where support is focused. Participation rates on all three assessments were full, so the results reflect nearly the entire tested student body. When compared with other districts in Warren County, the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects placed below the midpoint of the five districts in the county. That context is worth noting: the school is performing at a respectable level in absolute terms, but it is not the top performer among its immediate neighbors.
Because Southeast Warren Intermediate serves only grades four through six, there is no graduation rate to report. That is a natural gap for a middle-grade school. It also means the school does not offer the kinds of advanced coursework, career pathways, or dual-credit programs that appear at the high school level. The district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes such as boundary shifts, program launches, or leadership turnover, so the institutional picture appears stable based on what was publicly available.
For a family considering this school, the core takeaway is that it delivers a small-school experience in a rural setting where students move between three school buildings over the course of their K-12 career. Academic performance is a mixed bag: strong in reading, solid in math, and notably weaker in science. The full proficiency picture relative to other Warren County districts is a step behind the county median, though still within the same general range. Housing in Lacona is above the state average in value, and the town’s population is slowly shrinking, which may matter to a family thinking about long-term community stability. This is a straightforward, no-frills intermediate school in a quiet part of central Iowa, and the main open question for a parent to investigate would be how the school supports students in science and whether its approach to special education and English learning meets their child’s needs.
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