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Parents: what's one thing you'd want the West Senior High School administration to hear?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,514
High
DISTRICT 1,162 · STATE 468
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·IOWA CITY COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 191470000902
West Senior High School
2901 Melrose Ave, Iowa City, IA 52246 · (319) 688-1050 · Johnson County
GRADES 09–12HIGH13-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL1,514 STUDENTS
B
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 56% of Iowa public high 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 high schools
Student : Teacher
16.0:1
95 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.6:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
38%
573 students
DISTRICT 45% · STATE 41%
Community
6
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 9 | 384 | 25% |
| Grade 10 | 369 | 24% |
| Grade 11 | 385 | 25% |
| Grade 12 | 376 | 25% |
Student demographics
69%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 66% · 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
Test scores
ISASP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
77.8%
IA avg 73.6% . +1.0pp since 2023
Math
73.9%
IA avg 70.9% . +2.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 78 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 74 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 1 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 2 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 77.8% | 73.9% |
| 2023-24 | 76.8% | 71.9% |
% 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
73.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
73.0%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+0.4pp
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 West Senior High School
West Senior High School's state test result (73.4% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Senior High School this school | 1,514 | 37.8% | 73.4% |
| Johnston Middle School Johnston | 1,161 | 27.0% | 81.0% |
| Timberline School Waukee | 992 | 26.4% | 74.5% |
| Iowa City High School Iowa City | 1,666 | 42.0% | 66.8% |
| Ames High School Ames | 1,440 | 29.9% | 74.2% |
| West High School Waterloo | 1,696 | 59.1% | 60.9% |
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 West Senior High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Johnson County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 73.4% | #155 of 313 | #4 of 6 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 73.9% | #131 of 314 ▲ 5 | #4 of 6 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 77.8% | #159 of 314 ▲ 13 | #3 of 6 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,514 | #16 of 340 | #2 of 7 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.0:1 | #191 of 259 | #4 of 6 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 69.1% | #8 of 260 | #1 of 6 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 37.8% | #135 of 320 | #3 of 7 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -4.6% | #98 of 125 | N/A |
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
1,514
+48 (+3%) vs 2020
+52% since 1990-91, when it was 993
Student : Teacher
16.0:1
was 16.9:1
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 | 1,514 | 94.5 | 16.0:1 | 38% (573) |
| 2023-24 | 1,472 | 94.6 | 15.6:1 | 38% (560) |
| 2022-23 | 1,503 | 95.9 | 15.7:1 | 38% (575) |
| 2020-21 | 1,466 | 87 | 16.9:1 | 35% (517) |
| 2017-18 | 1,587 | 83.3 | 19.1:1 | 25% (391) |
| 2015-16 | 1,993 | 101 | 19.7:1 | 24% (469) |
| 2010-11 | 1,852 | 96 | 19.3:1 | 22% (415) |
| 2000-01 | 1,618 | 107 | 15.1:1 | 13% (218) |
| 1990-91 | 993 | 58 | 17.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for West Senior High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 5% (1,587 to 1,514); teachers up 14% (83.3 to 94.5).
About West Senior High School
West Senior High School is a large high school for students in Iowa City, Iowa. A total of 1,514 students attend the school, which covers grades 9 through 12. The average for high schools in Iowa is about 468 students, so this school is 224% bigger than average.
West Senior High School is part of Iowa City Comm School District, where 29 schools serve 15,111 students.
At West Senior High School, the largest share of students is White, at 45%. The remaining shares are 28% Black, 11% Hispanic, 10% Asian, and 5% multiracial. Johnson County as a whole is about 76% White, so the school's share is lower. Pick two students at random and there is a 69% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
The school has about 16.0 students per teacher and 94.5 full-time-equivalent teachers. This ratio sits 1.3 below the 17.3:1 average for high schools in Iowa. Federal records put free or reduced-price lunch eligibility at 38%. That tracks the 37% average for public schools in Johnson County.
allk12 grades West Senior High School a B. The grade compares the school only with Iowa public high schools, because each state gives its own test.
Based on student poverty, the model expects 73.0% at West Senior High School; the school's average proficiency rate on state tests is 73.4%.
West Senior High School is located in Johnson County, where the median household income is $74,935, 55% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. West Senior High School is one of 43 public schools in the county.
Ernest Horn Elementary School is located about 1.0 miles from West Senior High School. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Of 9 schools in the immediate area with test results, West Senior High School ranks 3rd on average proficiency.
The school's locale code, City: Small, means it is inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
Over 4 years, West Senior High School's enrollment climbed 3%, to 1,514.
Discussion on this page can cover science fairs, picture day, and bus routes. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
Johnson County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
156,639
Census ACS
Median income
$74,935
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
55%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
43
20,019 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Iowa City Comm School District
- Iowa City High SchoolHigh · 1,666 students
- Liberty High SchoolHigh · 1,286 students
- Southeast Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,269 students
- Northwest Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,113 students
- North Central Middle SchoolMiddle · 925 students
- Penn Elementary SchoolElementary · 512 students
Other schools in Iowa City
- Iowa City High SchoolHigh · 1,666 students
- Southeast Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,269 students
- Herbert Hoover Elementary SchoolElementary · 464 students
- Weber ElementaryElementary · 456 students
- Ernest Horn Elementary SchoolElementary · 453 students
- Alexander ElementaryElementary · 436 students
Other West Senior High schools
One other US public school is named West Senior High. West Senior High School is the largest of the 2.
- West Senior HighTRAVERSE CITY, MI · 1,384 students
Nearby schools
- Ernest Horn Elementary School1.0 mi · 453
- Weber Elementary1.0 mi · 456
- Norman Borlaug Elementary School1.5 mi · 405
- Central Elementary School1.6 mi · 343
- Lincoln Elementary School1.7 mi · 217
- Northwest Middle School2.0 mi · 1,113
Frequently asked questions
About West Senior High SchoolHow many students attend West Senior High School?
West Senior High School enrolls approximately 1,514 students in grades 09-12.
What grades does West Senior High School serve?
West Senior High School serves grades 09-12.
How many students per teacher at West Senior High School?
Approximately 16.0:1 students per teacher at West Senior High School.
How diverse is West Senior High School?
West Senior High School reports a student body of 45% White, 11% Hispanic, 28% Black, 10% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Who oversees West Senior High School?
West Senior High School is overseen by Iowa City Comm School District in Johnson County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.