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If you had an hour of school board time for Spencer Middle School, what would you bring up?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
514
Middle
DISTRICT 419 · STATE 400
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SPENCER COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 192691001583
Spencer Middle School
1400 10th Avenue East, Spencer, IA 51301 · (712) 262-3345 · Clay County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL514 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 81% of Iowa public middle schools
- B+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A+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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
17.3:1
30 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.6:1 · STATE 15.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
48%
249 students
DISTRICT 52% · STATE 41%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 161 | 31% |
| Grade 7 | 183 | 36% |
| Grade 8 | 170 | 33% |
Student demographics
23%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 29% · 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
Spencer Middle School→Spencer High School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Spencer Comm School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ISASP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
80.7%
IA avg 73.6% . -0.3pp since 2023
Math
84.1%
IA avg 70.9% . +2.8pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 81 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 84 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Iowa schools, those numbers are about 74 and 71. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2023, while math scores are up about 3 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 80.7% | 84.1% |
| 2023-24 | 81.0% | 81.3% |
% Proficient, all students and all tested grades.
Source: ISASP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of IA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
79.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
67.7%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+11.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 79% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 68% typical for Iowa schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 11 points, placing it in Iowa's top 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 Spencer Middle School
Spencer Middle School's state test result (79.0% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spencer Middle School this school | 514 | 48.4% | 79.0% |
| Greene County Middle School Jefferson | 347 | 50.1% | 67.5% |
| Oelwein Middle School Oelwein | 350 | 52.6% | 53.9% |
| Knoxville Middle School Knoxville | 323 | 51.7% | 67.2% |
| Atlantic Middle School Atlantic | 349 | 44.4% | 76.4% |
| Vinton-Shellsburg Middle School Vinton | 331 | 52.3% | 82.0% |
Matched among Iowa middle 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 Spencer Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 79.0% | #81 of 224 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 84.1% | #44 of 224 ▲ 15 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 80.7% | #87 of 224 ▲ 10 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 514 | #66 of 246 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.3:1 | #167 of 180 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 23.3% | #124 of 180 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 48.4% | #75 of 237 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -0.8% | #102 of 103 |
Ranked against other public middle 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
514
-12 (-2%) vs 2020
+24% since 1990-91, when it was 415
Student : Teacher
17.3:1
was 17.5:1
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 | 514 | 29.8 | 17.3:1 | 48% (249) |
| 2023-24 | 502 | 31 | 16.2:1 | 40% (202) |
| 2022-23 | 514 | 31.6 | 16.3:1 | 43% (221) |
| 2020-21 | 526 | 30 | 17.5:1 | 43% (227) |
| 2017-18 | 518 | 30.7 | 16.9:1 | 37% (191) |
| 2015-16 | 445 | 29 | 15.3:1 | 40% (177) |
| 2010-11 | 312 | 20 | 15.6:1 | 33% (103) |
| 2000-01 | 370 | 28 | 13.2:1 | 21% (76) |
| 1990-91 | 415 | 27 | 15.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Spencer Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 1% (518 to 514); teachers down 3% (30.7 to 29.8).
About Spencer Middle School
Spencer Middle School is one of the public schools in Spencer, Iowa. It is a mid-sized middle-grades school. In all, 514 students attend the school in grades 6 through 8. It has 28% more students than the average for middle schools in Iowa (about 400).
The 5 schools of Spencer Comm School District, including Spencer Middle School, enroll 2,094 students.
By race and ethnicity, Spencer Middle School is 87% White. The remaining shares are 8% Hispanic and 3% multiracial. On a 0 to 100 scale, the school's diversity index is 23, compared with 70 nationally.
The school has 29.8 full-time-equivalent teachers and a ratio of 17.3 students per teacher. Middle schools in Iowa have an average ratio of 15.2:1. The school reported 48% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024-25. Public schools in Clay County average a similar 51%.
On the allk12 Grade, Spencer Middle School lands at A-, ahead of 81% of Iowa public middle schools.
Given its lunch-eligibility share, the predicted average proficiency rate across its state test results for Spencer Middle School is 67.7%. It actually posts 79.0%, which is 11.3 points higher and in the top 10% of Iowa schools.
Five-year Census Bureau estimates for Clay County show that the median household earns about $65,428 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 28%, and about 7% of people live in poverty. Clay County has 6 public schools with about 2,147 students, including Spencer Middle School.
Measured in a straight line, Fairview Park Elementary is about 0.4 miles from Spencer Middle School. Within five miles are 4 other public schools. On proficiency, Spencer Middle School is ahead of the 69.6% nearby average, ranking 3rd of 6.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is Rural: Fringe.
Enrollment went from 526 in 2020-21 to 514 in 2024-25, a change of 12 students.
This page is a place to ask questions and share updates about fundraisers, report cards, and school supplies at Spencer Middle School. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Clay County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
16,461
Census ACS
Median income
$65,428
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
28%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
6
2,147 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Spencer Comm School District
- Spencer High SchoolHigh · 688 students
- Lincoln Elementary SchoolElementary · 442 students
- Fairview Park ElementaryElementary · 249 students
- Johnson ElementaryElementary · 201 students
Other schools in Spencer
- Spencer High SchoolHigh · 688 students
- Lincoln Elementary SchoolElementary · 442 students
- Fairview Park ElementaryElementary · 249 students
- Johnson ElementaryElementary · 201 students
Other Spencer Middle schools
One other US public school is named Spencer Middle. Spencer Middle School is the largest of the 2.
- Spencer Middle SchoolSpencer, WV · 299 students
Nearby schools
- Fairview Park Elementary0.4 mi · 249
- Spencer High School0.8 mi · 688
- Johnson Elementary1.4 mi · 201
- Lincoln Elementary School1.8 mi · 442
- Clay Central-Everly Elementary10.1 mi · 53
- Ruthven-Ayrshire High School11.5 mi · 58
Frequently asked questions
About Spencer Middle SchoolHow many students attend Spencer Middle School?
Spencer Middle School enrolls approximately 514 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Spencer Middle School serve?
Spencer Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Spencer Middle School?
Approximately 17.3:1 students per teacher at Spencer Middle School.
What is the student diversity at Spencer Middle School?
Student demographics at Spencer Middle School are roughly 87% White, 8% Hispanic, 1% Black, 0% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Is Spencer Middle School public or private?
Spencer Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Spencer Comm School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.