Summary:
The city of Laurens, Iowa has only one school, Laurens-Marathon Elementary School, which serves grades PK-6 with an enrollment of 145 students. The school is part of the Laurens-Marathon Community School District, which is ranked 313 out of 313 districts in Iowa and has a 0-star rating from SchoolDigger.
Laurens-Marathon Elementary School has seen a steady decline in its statewide ranking, dropping from 285 out of 565 Iowa elementary schools in 2022-2023 to 509 out of 557 in 2023-2024 and 571 out of 576 in 2024-2025. The school's test scores in English Language Arts and Mathematics are consistently lower than the state averages across all grade levels, with 3rd grade proficiency rates of 33.3% in ELA and 40% in Math, compared to the state averages of 67.9% and 75.8%, respectively. Additionally, the school has a high chronic absenteeism rate of 21.6%, which is significantly higher than the state average.
Despite the school's relatively low student-teacher ratio of 9.6 to 1 and high spending per student of $20,283, the academic performance of the students does not seem to be commensurate with the resources invested. This could indicate inefficiencies or challenges in how the resources are being utilized to support student learning. Furthermore, the high percentage of students (41.38%) receiving free or reduced-price lunch suggests a potential correlation between socioeconomic factors and academic achievement, which would require further investigation.
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