The top reported proficiency rate is 88% in Math. The lowest is 83% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Stanton Elementary School
Stanton Elementary School serves students from kindergarten through fifth grade in the Stanton Community School District, a small regular public school in a rural southwest Iowa town. The school’s academic performance on the state’s ISASP assessments places it in the top quartile relative to the other districts in Montgomery County, a comparison set of three districts. Proficiency rates across math, English language arts, and science all sit well above the county median, and the school’s overall proficiency index is the highest among its county peers. Participation in testing was full, and the results come from a single year of data, so no trend is available yet, but the starting point is strong for a school of its size and setting.
The school community is small, with an enrollment that fits its grade band and a student body that is predominantly white, with a modest share of students identifying as two or more races and a smaller Hispanic presence. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker of economic need that is present but not overwhelmingly high. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported in the available records, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the proportion of students receiving special education services or language support. Because Stanton Elementary is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate, and no chronic absenteeism data was available either.
Stanton itself is a small, predominantly rural community with a strong Swedish heritage that still shapes its annual events, such as Baseball Day and Midsummer celebrations. The downtown is compact and functions as a gathering hub, and the school sits within this close geography rather than on a separate campus. Agriculture has long been the economic backbone, and the town’s population has been declining in recent years. The community points to a planned Technology Park, high-speed fiber internet, and local development efforts as forward-looking initiatives, but the overall context is one of a stable but shrinking rural population with a median age above fifty. Housing values in the area are below the national median, and the cost of living is relatively low, which may appeal to families looking for an affordable place to raise children.
The district itself did not have notable recent changes in the publicly available record, so the school operates within a steady administrative context. The academic results are the strongest signal for a parent evaluating this school: students here, as a group, perform at a high level on state assessments, and the school’s small size may allow for close relationships between staff and families. The main gaps in the available data are around special populations, discipline, and staffing, so a family with a child who receives specialized services or who needs a particular behavioral or curricular support should follow up directly with the school. For a family seeking a small, high-performing elementary school in a rural, heritage-oriented community, Stanton Elementary presents a clear fit.
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