Mark Twain Elementary

As a modestly sized K-5 school in Iowa City, Iowa, Mark Twain Elementary instructs 213 students from grades pre-K through 5, operated by Iowa City Comm School District. Compared to the state average of about 325 students per school, that is 34% smaller than typical.

Iowa City Comm School District runs 29 schools in total, collectively educating 15,111 students. Mark Twain Elementary is one of those campuses.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Mark Twain Elementary shows that the most-represented group is Black (36%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. The remainder reads as 35% White, 23% Hispanic, 5% multiracial. That is meaningfully more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 8%.

On the income-and-resources front, Mark Twain Elementary logs 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 9.6:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.7:1, putting Mark Twain Elementary tighter than the state norm the norm. An estimated 67% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is north of Johnson County's rate of about 37%.

With demographic context factored in, Mark Twain Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 58.6%; this one delivers 53.4%.

In the area at large, census data for Johnson County shows median household income runs about $74,935, 55% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. In all, Johnson County runs 43 public schools (combined enrollment of about 20,019 students), of which Mark Twain Elementary is one.

Nearest neighbor: Elizabeth Tate Alt. High School, around 0.6 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Mark Twain Elementary ranks 6th on composite proficiency, beneath the local average of 61.5%.

The school occupies a city-core site.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count contracted 43%: 376 students in 2018 compared to 213 in 2025. Black enrollment moved from 25% to 36% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 12.7:1 in 2018 to 9.6:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, members of the Mark Twain Elementary community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.