The top reported proficiency rate is 78% in Math. The lowest is 66% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Lambert Elementary School
Lambert Elementary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through fourth grade as part of the West Delaware County Community School District in Manchester, Iowa. The district recently completed a significant renovation that created updated spaces for career and technical education and the fine arts, a capital investment a parent considering the district may want to note as one marker of the district’s current priorities.
Lambert is a regular public school, and its enrollment makes it a mid-sized elementary for a rural county-seat town. The student body is predominantly white, with small shares of students who are Black, Hispanic, Asian, or of two or more races. About half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a rate that places the school within the middle range of economic need for a rural Iowa school. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available, so a parent for whom those populations matter should ask the school directly.
State assessment results are available for the 2024-25 school year for grades three and four. In math, a solid majority of students scored at or above the proficient level. In English language arts, the proficiency rate was lower but still above the midpoint. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages results across subjects, sits in the bottom quartile relative to the two districts in Delaware County. With only two districts in the county, that position means Lambert’s results trail the other district’s elementary schools by a noticeable margin. A parent with an eye on comparative performance will want to understand how much of that gap reflects the district’s own elementary approach versus the student context in Manchester, and may want to ask the school about its literacy support and math intervention efforts.
The multi-year trend data shows only a single year of reported results, so there is no trajectory to describe. That is not unusual for a state that recently adopted a new assessment or for a school where the district did not publish earlier data in a comparable format, but it means a parent cannot see whether student performance is improving or declining.
Manchester itself is the county seat of Delaware County, a small town at the junction of U.S. Route 20 and State Highway 13 along the Maquoketa River. The economy blends manufacturing, healthcare, and agriculture, with XL Specialized Trailers, Henderson Products, the Regional Medical Center, and the school district among the largest employers. The town has a traditional Main Street core anchored by the Delaware County Courthouse, and the Manchester Whitewater Park on the Maquoketa River provides a recreational draw. Population growth has been slow, and housing values are moderate. A parent moving to the area should expect a stable, small-town environment where the school campuses sit separately from the downtown but within easy reach of it.
The school serves only early elementary grades, so there is no graduation rate to report here. That fact is a function of the grade band, not a weakness. A family with children at this age will eventually need to transition to the district’s upper elementary or middle school, and the district’s recent capital investment in CTE and fine arts facilities suggests those program offerings may be more developed at the secondary level.
Missing from the available data are breakdowns of discipline, staffing ratios, chronic absenteeism, and course access. The school’s Title I status is also not given. For a parent trying to gauge the learning environment beyond test scores, these are gaps worth filling with a direct call or visit to the school.
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