Riceville Community School District

The Riceville Community School District in Iowa consists of two schools - Riceville Elementary School and Riceville High School. The district as a whole is ranked 219 out of 313 districts in Iowa and has a 2-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Riceville Elementary School appears to be the standout school in the district, consistently ranking higher than the high school in the statewide SchoolDigger rankings, reaching as high as 150 out of 576 Iowa elementary schools. The elementary school has strong test scores, with 3rd-5th grade students performing above the state average in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science. In contrast, Riceville High School has struggled more, ranking in the bottom half of Iowa high schools and seeing declining SchoolDigger ratings over the past few years.

Both schools have high chronic absenteeism rates around 21-22%, well above the state average, which is an area that warrants further investigation and targeted interventions. The similar per-student spending levels between the elementary and high school suggest the district is allocating resources fairly, but the gap in academic outcomes indicates there may be opportunities to optimize how those funds are utilized. Identifying and replicating the successful practices from Riceville Elementary, while also addressing the high absenteeism and declining performance at the high school level, could be key focus areas for the Riceville Community School District moving forward.