The top reported proficiency rate is 61% in Math. The lowest is 58% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Bunger Middle School
Bunger Middle School serves grades six through eight in Evansdale, a mainly residential suburb that borders Waterloo, Iowa. The school is part of the Waterloo Community School District, which is in the midst of a major high school consolidation that will merge Waterloo East and Waterloo West into a single new school called Waterloo United High School. This change, approved in 2024, will reshape the high school pathway for Bunger students once they move on.
Evansdale itself lacks a traditional downtown. Civic life centers around city hall, and schools like Bunger sit within residential neighborhoods. The town has a trailhead for the Cedar Valley Nature Trail and its own public library. Growth has been steady since the town’s incorporation, with an urban renewal program adding new housing decades ago, though the population has seen a modest decline in recent years.
Bunger Middle School is a regular public school. Its enrollment is large enough to fill three grades with a noticeable number of sections per grade. The student body is racially and ethnically diverse. White students make up the largest share, followed by Black students, Hispanic students, students who identify as two or more races, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander students, Asian students, and American Indian or Alaska Native students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that many families in the attendance area face economic challenges.
State testing data from the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress provides a picture of academic performance. In math, a majority of students met the state’s proficiency standard. In English language arts, the share of students reaching proficiency was slightly lower. In science, the proficiency rate was similar to the math rate. When compared to other districts in Black Hawk County, Bunger’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades falls in the bottom quartile. This means that while a majority of students are meeting the state bar, peer schools in the county are posting higher rates of proficiency. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand how the curriculum and support structures address the full range of student readiness.
The data does not include information on chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, or course access, so it is not possible to speak to the school environment on those fronts from the available evidence. Neither special education nor English learner counts were reported in the data reviewed, so a parent with a child who may need those services should confirm availability directly with the school.
Housing in the area around the school is priced below both the state and national benchmarks, making it a relatively more affordable entry point for families. The typical mortgage payment and rent are both modest relative to national medians.
Bunger Middle School serves a diverse student population in a residential suburb of Waterloo. Its test results show that most students score as proficient, though the school trails the top end of its county peers. For a family looking at the Waterloo district, the coming high school consolidation is a defining factor on the horizon. The school itself is a standard grade-configuration middle school, and the community context is that of a working suburban town with a straightforward layout, no concentrated downtown, and a modest economic base.
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