Drexler Middle School

Drexler Middle School is an intermediate school of expansive scale in Farley, Iowa, run under Western Dubuque Comm School District, hosting 639 students in grades 6 through 8. Compared to the state average of about 400 students per school, that is 60% above typical.

Western Dubuque Comm School District runs 8 schools in total, collectively educating 3,643 students. Drexler Middle School is one of those campuses.

On demographics, Drexler Middle School records that 90% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. The remainder reads as 6% Hispanic. That composition is broadly in line with Dubuque County as a whole.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Drexler Middle School has 50 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 12.9:1. The state averages around 15.2:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. About 24% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is lower than Dubuque County's rate of about 39%.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Drexler Middle School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 80.1%; this one delivers 81.7%.

Zooming out to the county, census data for Dubuque County shows median household earnings sit near $77,630, about 33% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. In all, Dubuque County runs 26 public schools (combined enrollment of about 13,164 students), of which Drexler Middle School is one.

Nearest neighbor: Farley Elementary School, around 0.0 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 3 other public schools cluster around Drexler Middle School. On composite proficiency, Drexler Middle School comes 3rd of 7 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 79.9%.

The campus sits in a rural setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Drexler Middle School's enrollment has fell 15% since 2018, when it stood at 748 (now 639). Class-load math has tightened: from 15.2:1 in 2018 to 12.9:1 in 2025.

On the community side, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.