1
What's the vibe like in the hallways at Hempstead High School right now?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,499
High
DISTRICT 1,079 · STATE 468
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DUBUQUE COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 190948000608
Hempstead High School
3715 Pennsylvania Ave, Dubuque, IA 52002 · (563) 552-5200 · Dubuque County
GRADES 09–12HIGH13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,499 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 18% of Iowa public high schools
- C-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 high schools
Student : Teacher
15.4:1
97 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.4:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
42%
630 students
DISTRICT 49% · STATE 41%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 328 | 22% |
| Grade 10 | 370 | 25% |
| Grade 11 | 383 | 26% |
| Grade 12 | 418 | 28% |
Student demographics
39%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 45% · 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
Test scores
ISASP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
64.0%
IA avg 73.6% . -2.3pp since 2023
Math
61.4%
IA avg 70.9% . -4.3pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 64 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 61 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Iowa schools, those numbers are about 74 and 71. Reading and writing scores are down about 2 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 4 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 64.0% | 61.4% |
| 2023-24 | 66.3% | 65.7% |
% 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
64.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
70.9%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-6.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 64% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 71% 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 Hempstead High School
Hempstead High School's state test result (64.1% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hempstead High School this school | 1,499 | 42.0% | 64.1% |
| Dubuque Senior High School Dubuque | 1,490 | 43.6% | 65.0% |
| Clinton High School Clinton | 981 | 46.3% | 55.6% |
| Mason City High School Mason City | 891 | 41.2% | 58.6% |
| John F Kennedy High School Cedar Rapids | 1,648 | 36.0% | 69.3% |
| Abraham Lincoln High School Council Bluffs | 1,333 | 46.1% | 52.6% |
Matched among Iowa high 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 Hempstead High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 64.1% | #256 of 313 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 61.4% | #255 of 314 ▼ 50 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 64.0% | #282 of 314 ▼ 15 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,499 | #18 of 340 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.4:1 | #175 of 259 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 39.4% | #80 of 260 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 42.0% | #101 of 320 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -12.3% | #47 of 125 |
Ranked against other public high 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
1,499
-201 (-12%) vs 2020
+1% since 1990-91, when it was 1,479
Student : Teacher
15.4:1
was 15.4:1
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 | 1,499 | 97.1 | 15.4:1 | 42% (630) |
| 2023-24 | 1,549 | 101.7 | 15.2:1 | 36% (561) |
| 2022-23 | 1,584 | 109.4 | 14.5:1 | 38% (603) |
| 2020-21 | 1,700 | 110 | 15.4:1 | 36% (608) |
| 2017-18 | 1,709 | 107.5 | 15.9:1 | 32% (540) |
| 2015-16 | 1,646 | 110 | 15.0:1 | 29% (481) |
| 2010-11 | 1,761 | 108 | 16.3:1 | 27% (468) |
| 2000-01 | 1,606 | 100 | 16.1:1 | 10% (153) |
| 1990-91 | 1,479 | 92 | 16.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Hempstead High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 12% (1,709 to 1,499); teachers down 10% (107.5 to 97.1).
About Hempstead High School
Hempstead High School, a large high school, is located in Dubuque, Iowa. The school's enrollment of 1,499 students covers grades 9 through 12. Enrollment is 220% higher than the average for high schools in Iowa, which is about 468.
Dubuque Comm School District enrolls 9,843 students in 19 schools, including Hempstead High School.
White students are the majority at Hempstead High School, with 77% of enrollment. Other groups make up 8% Black, 5% Hispanic, 5% multiracial, and 4% Pacific Islander. Dubuque County as a whole is about 89% White, so the school's share is lower. Pick two students at random and there is a 39% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
At Hempstead High School, 97.1 full-time-equivalent teachers work with students, a ratio of about 15.4:1. That is lower than the 17.3:1 average for high schools in Iowa. Roughly 42% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. That tracks the 39% average for public schools in Dubuque County.
allk12 grades Hempstead High School a C-. The grade compares the school only with Iowa public high schools, because each state gives its own test.
Hempstead High School sits between the top and bottom 10% of Iowa schools on BeatsExpectations, with an actual average proficiency rate on state tests of 64.1% and a predicted 70.9%.
Census Bureau estimates for Dubuque County show that the median household income is $77,630, roughly 33% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 6%. There are 26 public schools in Dubuque County, enrolling about 13,164 students in all.
The closest other public school is Hoover Elementary School, about 0.7 miles away. Hempstead High School has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Hempstead High School ranks 7th of 8 among nearby schools on average proficiency, with 64.1% against a local average of 73.1%.
NCES assigns Hempstead High School the locale City: Small, meaning inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
Compared with 2020-21, the school had 201 fewer students in 2024-25.
Discussion on this page can cover school events, clubs, and volunteer needs. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Dubuque County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
99,030
Census ACS
Median income
$77,630
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
33%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
26
13,164 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Dubuque Comm School District
- Dubuque Senior High SchoolHigh · 1,490 students
- Eleanor Roosevelt Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,081 students
- George Washington Middle SchoolMiddle · 584 students
- Eisenhower Elementary SchoolElementary · 568 students
- Carver Elementary SchoolElementary · 499 students
- John Kennedy Elementary SchoolElementary · 493 students
Other schools in Dubuque
- Dubuque Senior High SchoolHigh · 1,490 students
- Eleanor Roosevelt Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,081 students
- George Washington Middle SchoolMiddle · 584 students
- Eisenhower Elementary SchoolElementary · 568 students
- Carver Elementary SchoolElementary · 499 students
- John Kennedy Elementary SchoolElementary · 493 students
Other Hempstead High schools
2 other US public schools in 3 states are named Hempstead High. Hempstead High School is the 2nd largest of the 3.
- HEMPSTEAD HIGH SCHOOLHEMPSTEAD, NY · 1,879 students
- Hempstead High SchoolHEMPSTEAD, TX · 462 students
Nearby schools
- Hoover Elementary School0.7 mi · 292
- John Kennedy Elementary School0.7 mi · 493
- Eleanor Roosevelt Middle School1.0 mi · 1,081
- Carver Elementary School1.1 mi · 499
- Eisenhower Elementary School1.5 mi · 568
- Irving Elementary School1.6 mi · 409
Frequently asked questions
About Hempstead High SchoolHow many students attend Hempstead High School?
Hempstead High School enrolls approximately 1,499 students in grades 09-12.
What grades does Hempstead High School serve?
Hempstead High School serves grades 09-12.
How many students per teacher at Hempstead High School?
Approximately 15.4:1 students per teacher at Hempstead High School.
How diverse is Hempstead High School?
Hempstead High School reports a student body of 77% White, 5% Hispanic, 8% Black, 1% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Who oversees Hempstead High School?
Hempstead High School is overseen by Dubuque Comm School District in Dubuque County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.