Enrollment
328
Elementary
DISTRICT 285 · STATE 325
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SOUTH O'BRIEN COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 190002600618
South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center
155 3rd St NE, Primghar, IA 51245 · (712) 957-3755 · O'Brien County
GRADES PK–06ELEMENTARY43-RURALREGULAR SCHOOL328 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 49% of Iowa public elementary schools
- B-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B-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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
22 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.4:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
38%
125 students
DISTRICT 34% · STATE 41%
Community
0
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 44 | 13% |
| Kindergarten | 50 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 49 | 15% |
| Grade 2 | 42 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 34 | 10% |
| Grade 4 | 35 | 11% |
| Grade 5 | 43 | 13% |
| Grade 6 | 31 | 9% |
This year's kindergarten class (50) is 61% larger than its 6th grade class (31).
Student demographics
20%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 19% · 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
South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center→South O'Brien Secondary School
Based on grade levels within South O'Brien Comm School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
QUIET COMMUNITY
Be the first to start a discussion at South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center.
START A DISCUSSIONTest scores
ISASP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
73.9%
IA avg 73.6% . +4.2pp since 2023
Math
71.0%
IA avg 70.9% . -4.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 74 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 71 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 4 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 4 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 73.9% | 71.0% |
| 2023-24 | 69.7% | 75.0% |
% 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
73.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
72.9%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+0.6pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 73% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 73% 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 South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center
South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center's state test result (73.4% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center this school | 328 | 38.1% | 73.4% |
| West Elementary School Independence | 360 | 39.4% | 71.3% |
| Brooklyn-Guernsey-Malcom Elementary School Brooklyn | 300 | 39.7% | 76.2% |
| Camanche Elementary Camanche | 358 | 40.5% | 63.0% |
| Nodaway Valley Elementary School Greenfield | 312 | 41.3% | 75.0% |
| Iowa Valley Elementary School Marengo | 314 | 41.1% | 78.6% |
Matched among Iowa elementary 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 South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 73.4% | #272 of 564 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 71.0% | #370 of 564 ▼ 65 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 73.9% | #261 of 564 ▲ 36 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 328 | #321 of 705 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.2:1 | #459 of 561 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 19.8% | #426 of 561 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 38.1% | #389 of 666 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +3.5% | #132 of 168 |
Ranked against other public elementary 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
328
+22 (+7%) vs 2020
+62% since 2000-01, when it was 203
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
was 12.8:1
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 | 328 | 21.6 | 15.2:1 | 38% (125) |
| 2023-24 | 316 | 22.7 | 13.9:1 | 39% (124) |
| 2022-23 | 324 | 23.7 | 13.7:1 | 38% (124) |
| 2020-21 | 306 | 24 | 12.8:1 | 36% (111) |
| 2017-18 | 317 | 22.3 | 14.2:1 | 38% (119) |
| 2015-16 | 332 | 24 | 13.8:1 | 41% (137) |
| 2010-11 | 329 | 23 | 14.3:1 | 39% (129) |
| 2000-01 | 203 | 14 | 14.5:1 | 24% (49) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center.
Since 2017-18: students up 3% (317 to 328); teachers down 3% (22.3 to 21.6).
About South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center
South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center serves students in Primghar, Iowa, as a medium-sized elementary school. The school reports 328 students in pre-K through 6.
South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center is among 2 schools run by South O'Brien Comm School District, which serves 569 students.
White students make up 89% of enrollment at South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center. Smaller groups are 5% Hispanic and 4% multiracial. For comparison, O'Brien County is about 88% White. South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center's diversity index is 20%, against a US figure of 70%.
A ratio of 15.2:1 comes from the school's 21.6 full-time-equivalent teachers. That is 1.4 students per teacher above the 13.7:1 average for elementary schools in Iowa. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility was 38% in 2024-25. For comparison, public schools in O'Brien County average 40%.
allk12 grades South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center a B-. The grade compares the school only with Iowa public elementary schools, because each state gives its own test.
In Iowa, South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center is in the middle band of BeatsExpectations: 73.4% actual against a predicted 72.9%.
In the county around the school, O'Brien County, the median household income is $68,356, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 22% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 9%. O'Brien County is home to 9 public schools and about 2,377 public school students.
The closest public school to South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center is Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn Middle School, about 6.8 miles away. South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center is one of several public schools in the area, with 4 others within ten miles. Nearby schools with test data average 81.1% proficiency; South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center posts 73.4%.
Federal data place South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center in the Rural: Remote locale, which means it is in rural territory far from an urban area.
Compared with 2020-21, the school had 22 more students in 2024-25. In 2020-21, the student-to-teacher ratio was 12.8:1; by 2024-25 it was 15.2:1.
Threads on this page can be about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
O'Brien County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
14,126
Census ACS
Median income
$68,356
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
22%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
9
2,377 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in South O'Brien Comm School District
- South O'Brien Secondary SchoolHigh · 241 students
Nearby schools
- Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn Middle School6.8 mi · 165
- South O'Brien Secondary School8.3 mi · 241
- Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn High School9.9 mi · 203
- Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn Elementary School9.9 mi · 261
- Sheldon Middle School12.1 mi · 312
- Sheldon High School12.3 mi · 356
Frequently asked questions
About South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar CenterWhat is the total enrollment at South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center?
South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center enrolls approximately 328 students in grades PK-06.
What age range does South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center serve?
South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center serves students from grade PK through grade 06.
How many students per teacher at South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center?
Approximately 15.2:1 students per teacher at South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center.
How diverse is South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center?
South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center reports a student body of 89% White, 5% Hispanic, 1% Black, 4% Two or more.
Who oversees South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center?
South O'Brien Elem School - Primghar Center is overseen by South O'Brien Comm School District in O'Brien County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.