The top reported proficiency rate is 90% in English language arts. The lowest is 80% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Rural Elementary School #3
This school is a case where the data tells a very short story, and the reason is clear. Rural Elementary School #3 is classified as a regular public school, but its lifecycle status is closed. The state’s educational landscape includes schools that have ceased operations, and this is one of them. The directory information makes this explicit, so any discussion of its academic performance, programs, or student body is historical context, not a description of a currently operating institution.
For the period when data was reported, the record shows a very small testing cohort. In the most recent available testing year, every student in the tested grades participated in both math and English language arts assessments. The proficiency rate in math was high, and the rate in English language arts was also high. The science results for that year were suppressed, a common practice when the group of students tested is too small to report publicly, a frequent occurrence for a school of a very small size. Because this school did not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to examine, and no data on college readiness or advanced coursework is applicable.
The picture for the community around this school is one of stasis and decline. Hazleton is a small, rural town in Buchanan County that has been losing population for years. Once served by its own local schools, the district consolidated with the Oelwein Community School District in the past, and the grade school that remained in town eventually closed. The civic life today centers on a few buildings: City Hall, the Legion Hall, the post office, and Fontana Park. There is no separate school campus in the town. Highway 150 runs through the area, connecting it to larger towns, but the economic activity is minimal, and the housing stock is modest. The town is known locally as the “gateway to Amish country,” a phrase that points to the surrounding farms and settlements rather than a vibrant downtown.
For a family or resident reading this, the most important takeaway is that Rural Elementary School #3 no longer exists as an operational school. The Wapsie Valley Community School District, its former parent district, is the entity that now covers this area, and a parent looking at the town of Hazleton would need to look at the active schools in that district. The data for this specific building is a closed file; it tells you about a past institution, not a present choice.
See more original research from School Decision →