(Students in old schoolhouse raising hands -- KIWA Staff Stock Photo)Washington, DC — U.S. News & World Report has released the 2027 Best Elementary and Middle Schools rankings, and several area schools are in the top rankings for Iowa.
The report includes about 46,000 public elementary schools and more than 24,000 middle schools that are ranked at the state and district levels, with state rankings specific to charter schools also as a stand-alone category.
The rankings methodology evaluates student performance in mathematics and reading/language arts alongside student demographic context to measure both overall achievement and school effectiveness. Student-teacher ratios are applied to break ties in overall scores.
In the elementary rankings, Sheldon’s East Elementary is in the top 10. In fact, East is ranked number four in Iowa, behind only two schools in Bettendorf and one in the Mount Pleasant Community School District. Ten spaces down, in 14th place in the state, is George-Little Rock Elementary in Little Rock. Sioux Center’s Kinsey Elementary is 32nd. Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn Elementary is 38th. Boyden-Hull Elementary in Boyden is 47th. Coming in at number 57 is Central Lyon Elementary, and Rock Valley Elementary is 69th. Other schools in the area are rated in places over 100. There are 599 schools ranked.
As for the middle school rankings, two area schools are in the top 10 Iowa schools. They are MOC-Floyd Valley in 9th place and Sheldon Middle School in 10th. South O’Brien Middle School is ranked 13th. Rock Valley Middle School is 25th, and Central Lyon is 31st. Coming in 42nd is Hartley-Melvin Sanborn Middle School in Sanborn. Sioux Center is 57th, West Lyon is 79th, and West Sioux is 87th. Again, other schools in the area are ranked in places over 100. There are 367 middle schools ranked.
For more information and the full rankings, click here.
