Woodward-granger High School, Woodward IA

Original Research by School Decision on Woodward-granger High School

Woodward-Granger High School, part of the Woodward-Granger Community School District, serves around 270 students in grades nine through twelve as a regular public school in Woodward, Iowa. The school is the sole high school in the district and is located on the same campus as the middle school, with the district’s elementary school in the nearby town of Granger.

Woodward is a small, primarily residential community about 25 miles north of Des Moines, offering an easy commute to the state capital. The town sits in Dallas County, one of Iowa’s faster-growing counties, and recent years have seen a new addition at the middle/high school and a new football and track facility completed through donations. The community has a traditional small-town business district with local shops, parks, a 9-hole golf course, and the High Trestle Trail, a 25-mile recreational trail that begins in Woodward and runs to Ankeny. Major institutional employers include the Woodward State Resource Center and Woodward Academy, a residential treatment facility for adjudicated youth. The homeownership rate is high, and median property values have grown modestly.

Academically, the school’s state assessment results from the 2024-25 school year show that students posted strong proficiency rates across the tested subjects. English language arts proficiency was reported at a level that exceeds the typical benchmark for Iowa high schools. Math proficiency was also solid, and science proficiency came in at a level that many families would consider a reliable performance. These results represent a single year of data, so no trend is available to assess direction, but the current snapshot indicates that the school’s core instruction is producing results that compare favorably to many schools in the region.

The student body is predominantly white, which is characteristic of the surrounding rural area. A small share of students are Hispanic, and even fewer are Black or identify with two or more races. Just over one in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that is lower than the state average and suggests a relatively affluent student population. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available for this school, which is a gap families may want to explore directly with the district to understand how these populations are served and supported.

The high school does not have a published graduation rate, state-reported chronic absenteeism data, or a list of course offerings and program pathways in the available information. This is common for a school that may not have been included in some reporting cycles, and it means that families interested in the breadth of Advanced Placement, dual-credit, career and technical education, or other specialized programs will need to inquire with the school directly to learn about what is available.

There is no data on discipline, staffing ratios, or attendance patterns. These are standard measures that schools typically release, and their absence here means that parents looking for a full picture of daily climate, class sizes, and behavioral supports should ask the school or district for these figures.

Compared to other school districts in Dallas County, Woodward-Granger High School’s overall proficiency across tested subjects is strong, but the comparison is limited because proficiency was the only metric available. The county includes a mix of suburban and rural districts, and the school’s performance on this single measure puts it in a favorable position among its peers.

Woodward-Granger High School is a straightforward, academically solid public high school in a small, commuter-friendly town with a clear sense of place. For families who value strong state test results in a small-school environment within a rural Iowa setting that is not far from a major metro area, it is a credible option. The gaps in available data on special education, disciplinary climate, and program offerings mean that a thorough conversation with the school is advisable before making a placement decision.

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Academic performance

How students graduate and prepare for what comes next.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=95%Cohort of 64 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

336 schools plotted. 3 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.