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Parents: what's one thing you'd want the Johnston Middle School administration to hear?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,161
High
DISTRICT 1,491 · STATE 468
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·JOHNSTON COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 191545000926
Johnston Middle School
6501 NW 62nd Ave, Johnston, IA 50131 · (515) 278-0476 · Polk County
GRADES 08–09HIGH21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL1,161 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
16.3:1
71 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.6:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
27%
313 students
DISTRICT 26% · 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 8 | 577 | 50% |
| Grade 9 | 584 | 50% |
Student demographics
55%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 56% · 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
Johnston Middle School→Johnston Senior High School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Johnston Comm School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ISASP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
87.8%
IA avg 73.6% . +1.7pp since 2023
Math
81.3%
IA avg 70.9% . +2.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 88 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 81 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 2 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 87.8% | 81.3% |
| 2023-24 | 86.1% | 78.9% |
% 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
81.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
78.5%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+2.5pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 81% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 78% 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 Johnston Middle School
Johnston Middle School's state test result (81.0% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johnston Middle School this school | 1,161 | 27.0% | 81.0% |
| Timberline School Waukee | 992 | 26.4% | 74.5% |
| Waukee High School Waukee | 1,375 | 23.0% | 70.1% |
| Ames High School Ames | 1,440 | 29.9% | 74.2% |
| Johnston Senior High School Johnston | 1,820 | 22.4% | 79.9% |
| Urbandale High School Urbandale | 1,301 | 36.4% | 68.0% |
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 Johnston Middle School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 81.0% | #47 of 313 | #5 of 18 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 81.3% | #42 of 314 ▲ 11 | #4 of 18 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 87.8% | #27 of 314 ▲ 21 | #2 of 18 ▲ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,161 | #38 of 340 | #11 of 20 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.3:1 | #197 of 259 | #5 of 18 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 55.4% | #34 of 260 | #9 of 18 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 27.0% | #237 of 320 | #13 of 19 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +2.7% | #116 of 133 | #12 of 13 |
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
1,161
+43 (+4%) vs 2020
+76% since 1990-91, when it was 661
Student : Teacher
16.3:1
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 | 1,161 | 71.4 | 16.3:1 | 27% (313) |
| 2023-24 | 1,200 | 66.9 | 17.9:1 | 26% (315) |
| 2022-23 | 1,166 | 64.1 | 18.2:1 | 24% (280) |
| 2020-21 | 1,118 | 65 | 17.2:1 | 22% (251) |
| 2017-18 | 1,130 | 66 | 17.1:1 | 22% (245) |
| 2015-16 | 1,048 | 61 | 17.2:1 | 18% (190) |
| 2010-11 | 945 | 58 | 16.3:1 | 16% (152) |
| 2000-01 | 985 | 68 | 14.5:1 | 4% (41) |
| 1990-91 | 661 | 39 | 16.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Johnston Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students up 3% (1,130 to 1,161); teachers up 8% (66 to 71.4).
About Johnston Middle School
Johnston Middle School, a large high school, is located in Johnston, Iowa. Its grade span covers grades 8 through 9, with 1,161 students on the rolls. That compares with an average of about 468 students for high schools in Iowa.
Johnston Middle School is one school in an 8-school district, Johnston Comm School District, which enrolls 7,339 students.
About 64% of the student body at Johnston Middle School is White. The remaining students are 12% Black, 10% Asian, 9% Hispanic, and 5% multiracial. Among people living in Polk County, the White share is about 76%. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 55%.
Johnston Middle School lists 71.4 full-time-equivalent teachers; that is about 16.3 students per teacher. The school's 16.3:1 compares with an average of 17.3:1 for high schools in Iowa. Free or reduced-price lunch covers 27% of the student body. That is lower than the 49% average for public schools in Polk County.
Predicted from its free or reduced-price lunch share, Johnston Middle School would score about 78.5%. It scores 81.0%, 2.5 points above that figure.
Looking at the county, Polk County, the median household earns about $83,576 a year, 40% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 7% of people live in poverty. Polk County has 137 public schools with about 77,436 students, including Johnston Middle School.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, Henry A Wallace Elementary School, is about 0.2 miles. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. By average proficiency, Johnston Middle School is 3rd among 9 schools close by.
Federal data place Johnston Middle School in the Suburb: Large locale, which means it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment in 2024-25 stood at 1,161, compared with 1,118 in 2020-21.
Anyone can start a thread about open houses, carpools, and field trips at Johnston Middle School. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Polk County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
503,175
Census ACS
Median income
$83,576
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
40%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
137
77,436 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Johnston Comm School District
- Johnston Senior High SchoolHigh · 1,820 students
- Summit Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,118 students
- Henry A Wallace Elementary SchoolElementary · 840 students
- Timber Ridge ElementaryElementary · 667 students
- Horizon ElementaryElementary · 613 students
- Beaver Creek Elementary SchoolElementary · 575 students
Other schools in Johnston
- Johnston Senior High SchoolHigh · 1,820 students
- Summit Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,118 students
- Henry A Wallace Elementary SchoolElementary · 840 students
- Timber Ridge ElementaryElementary · 667 students
- Horizon ElementaryElementary · 613 students
- Beaver Creek Elementary SchoolElementary · 575 students
Nearby schools
- Henry A Wallace Elementary School0.2 mi · 840
- Lawson Elementary School0.6 mi · 545
- Timber Ridge Elementary1.4 mi · 667
- Beaver Creek Elementary School1.7 mi · 575
- Summit Middle School2.3 mi · 1,118
- Urbandale High School2.5 mi · 1,301
Frequently asked questions
About Johnston Middle SchoolHow large is Johnston Middle School?
Johnston Middle School enrolls approximately 1,161 students in grades 08-09.
What grades does Johnston Middle School serve?
Johnston Middle School serves grades 08-09.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Johnston Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Johnston Middle School is approximately 16.3:1 (71 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Johnston Middle School?
Johnston Middle School reports a student body of 64% White, 9% Hispanic, 12% Black, 10% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Who oversees Johnston Middle School?
Johnston Middle School is overseen by Johnston Comm School District in Polk County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.