1
What's the one class at Ballard Middle School every student should take?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
418
Middle
DISTRICT 468 · STATE 400
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BALLARD COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 190420000106
Ballard Middle School
509 N Main Ave, Huxley, IA 50124 · (515) 597-2815 · Story County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE42-RURALREGULAR SCHOOL418 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 68% of Iowa public middle schools
- A-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Iowa public middle schools
Student : Teacher
15.1:1
28 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.6:1 · STATE 15.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
18%
74 students
DISTRICT 19% · STATE 41%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 149 | 36% |
| Grade 7 | 130 | 31% |
| Grade 8 | 139 | 33% |
Student demographics
14%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 15% · STATE 48% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Ballard Middle School→Ballard High School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Ballard Comm School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ISASP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
86.4%
IA avg 73.6% . +1.9pp since 2023
Math
87.9%
IA avg 70.9% . +3.1pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 86 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 88 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Iowa schools, those numbers are about 74 and 71. Reading and writing scores are up about 2 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 3 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 86.4% | 87.9% |
| 2023-24 | 84.5% | 84.8% |
% Proficient, all students and all tested grades.
Source: ISASP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
83.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
83.1%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+0.8pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 84% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 83% typical for Iowa schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Iowa's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Ballard Middle School
Ballard Middle School's state test result (83.9% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ballard Middle School this school | 418 | 17.7% | 83.9% |
| Mount Vernon Middle School Mount Vernon | 425 | 15.8% | 90.1% |
| Pella Middle School Pella | 375 | 15.7% | 88.8% |
| DeSoto Intermediate School DeSoto | 337 | 20.2% | 87.1% |
| ADM Middle School Adel | 352 | 20.2% | 84.5% |
| Center Point-Urbana Middle School Center Point | 290 | 19.0% | 85.3% |
Matched among Iowa middle schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Ballard Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 83.9% | #36 of 224 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 87.9% | #16 of 224 ▲ 15 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 86.4% | #40 of 224 ▲ 14 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 418 | #95 of 246 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.1:1 | #119 of 180 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 14.1% | #159 of 180 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 17.7% | #219 of 237 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +20.1% | #17 of 61 |
Ranked against other public middle schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
418
+6 (+1%) vs 2020
+58% since 1990-91, when it was 265
Student : Teacher
15.1:1
was 17.2:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 418 | 27.7 | 15.1:1 | 18% (74) |
| 2023-24 | 409 | 28.6 | 14.3:1 | 16% (66) |
| 2022-23 | 432 | 27.1 | 15.9:1 | 15% (66) |
| 2020-21 | 412 | 24 | 17.2:1 | 16% (64) |
| 2017-18 | 348 | 23 | 15.1:1 | 13% (46) |
| 2015-16 | 392 | 27 | 14.5:1 | 19% (75) |
| 2010-11 | 244 | 13 | 18.8:1 | 18% (45) |
| 2000-01 | 198 | 12 | 16.5:1 | 18% (36) |
| 1990-91 | 265 | 16 | 16.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Ballard Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students up 20% (348 to 418); teachers up 20% (23 to 27.7).
About Ballard Middle School
Ballard Middle School is a mid-sized middle school in Huxley, Iowa. The school counted 418 students in 2024-25, covering grades 6 through 8.
Ballard Comm School District is made up of 4 schools with 1,872 students in all.
At Ballard Middle School, 93% of students are White. The remaining students are 3% Hispanic and 3% multiracial. Census figures show Story County is about 82% White. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 14%.
Ballard Middle School has a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.1:1, with 27.7 full-time-equivalent teachers. The 15.2:1 average for middle schools in Iowa is close to this figure. The school has 18% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Public schools in Story County average 28%.
Among Iowa public middle schools, Ballard Middle School outscored 68%, which works out to a B+ on the allk12 Grade.
On the allk12 BeatsExpectations measure, Ballard Middle School is within a point of the average proficiency rate across its state test results predicted for its free or reduced-price lunch share: 83.9% actual, 83.1% predicted. That is outside both the top and bottom 10% in Iowa.
Looking at the county, Story County, median household income comes to about $69,685, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 55% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 6%. The county has 26 public schools and about 11,665 students.
A public school about 0.5 miles away, Ballard High School, is the closest to Ballard Middle School. In all, 3 other public schools sit within five miles of Ballard Middle School. In a group of 8 nearby schools with scores, Ballard Middle School ranks 3rd on average proficiency.
Ballard Middle School has an NCES locale of Rural: Distant.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, enrollment moved from 412 to 418, a small change. Staffing shifted too: the ratio moved from 17.2:1 to 15.1:1.
People can post here about special education services, counseling, and support programs and other school topics. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Story County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
100,466
Census ACS
Median income
$69,685
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
55%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
26
11,665 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Ballard Comm School District
- Ballard High SchoolHigh · 586 students
- Ballard West ElementaryElementary · 451 students
- Ballard East ElementaryElementary · 417 students
Nearby schools
- Ballard High School0.5 mi · 586
- Ballard East Elementary3.2 mi · 417
- Ballard West Elementary3.8 mi · 451
- North Polk Middle School5.5 mi · 504
- North Polk Central Elementary School5.6 mi · 408
- North Polk High School5.7 mi · 644
Frequently asked questions
About Ballard Middle SchoolHow large is Ballard Middle School?
Ballard Middle School enrolls approximately 418 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does Ballard Middle School serve?
Ballard Middle School serves grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Ballard Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Ballard Middle School is approximately 15.1:1 (28 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Ballard Middle School?
Ballard Middle School reports a student body of 93% White, 3% Hispanic, 1% Black, 0% Asian, 3% Two or more.
What district is Ballard Middle School in?
Ballard Middle School is part of Ballard Comm School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.