Johnston Senior High School

Located at 6500 NW 100th Street, in Johnston, Iowa, Johnston Senior High School is a heavily attended senior high that enrolls 1,820 students (grades 10 through 12), part of Johnston Comm School District. Enrollment runs roughly 289% bigger than the state mean of about 468.

Across the 8 schools in Johnston Comm School District (7,339 students total), Johnston Senior High School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, Johnston Senior High School lists that 68% of the student body identifies as White; the rest consists of 11% Black, 8% Asian, 8% Hispanic, 5% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 76% White, putting the school's mix noticeably less White than the area baseline.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Johnston Senior High School has 87 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 20.9:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 17.3:1 average. An estimated 22% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Polk County runs at roughly 49%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully below the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Johnston Senior High School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 80.8%, the actual is 79.9%, a residual of -0.8 points.

Across the wider county, census data for Polk County shows median household income runs about $83,576, roughly 40% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Polk County runs 137 public schools (combined enrollment of about 77,436 students), of which Johnston Senior High School is one.

The closest other public school is Horizon Elementary, roughly 0.8 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Johnston Senior High School at 5th of 7; the average score across the group is 79.5%.

The campus sits in a residential setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count increased 13%: 1,606 students in 2018 compared to 1,820 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share declined from 78% to 68%.

On this page, posts here usually surface around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.