Cardinal High School

Cardinal High School is a high school of modestly sized scale in Eldon, Iowa, operated by Cardinal Comm School District, educateing 270 students in grades 9 through 12. By comparison, Iowa's public schools average about 468 students each, so Cardinal High School sits 42% smaller than that benchmark.

Within Cardinal Comm School District, which oversees 3 schools and 1,079 students, Cardinal High School is one campus in the system.

In terms of who attends, Cardinal High School records that the student body is overwhelmingly White (91%); the rest reads as 6% Hispanic, 2% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 79% White, putting the school's mix visibly more White than the area baseline.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 21 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 12.7:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 17.3:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Roughly 53% of students at Cardinal High School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Cardinal High School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 65.3%; this one delivers 65.3%.

Around the school, Wapello County reports that median household income runs about $64,766, 20% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 12%. Cardinal High School is one of 18 public schools in Wapello County (combined enrollment of about 6,892 students).

The closest other public school is Cardinal Junior High, roughly 0.0 miles away. 2 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Cardinal High School at 2nd of 7; the average score across the group is 55.4%.

Geographically, the school is in a rural area.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Cardinal High School has grew 26%, going from 214 students in 2018 to 270 in 2025. Class-load math has fell: from 15.6:1 in 2018 to 12.7:1 in 2025.

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