Howar Middle School

Howar Middle School, a low-enrollment middle-grades school in Centerville, Iowa, one of the schools within Centerville Comm School District, instructs 298 students, covering grades 6 through 8. That puts it 26% leaner than the typical public school in Iowa, which averages around 400 students.

Centerville Comm School District runs 4 schools in total, collectively educating 1,224 students. Howar Middle School is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, Howar Middle School records that nearly all students (89%) are White; the rest looks like 7% Hispanic, 3% multiracial.

Looking at school resources, Howar Middle School lists 17 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 17.2:1. The state averages around 15.2:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Around 56% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, often used as a Title I proxy.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Howar Middle School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 63.9%; this one delivers 65.5%.

Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for Appanoose County indicate the typical household earns roughly $54,934 per year, 21% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 9%. In all, Appanoose County runs 8 public schools (combined enrollment of about 1,767 students), of which Howar Middle School is one.

Nearest neighbor: Centerville High School, around 0.2 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 3 other public schools cluster around Howar Middle School. On composite proficiency, Howar Middle School comes 4th of 8 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 60.1%.

The campus sits in a small-town setting.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Howar Middle School has remained close to its prior level, going from 294 students in 2018 to 298 in 2025. The White share of enrollment fell from 94% to 89% over that span.

On this page, posts here usually surface around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.