Fort Madison Middle School

Fort Madison Middle School is a public middle school serving grades 4-8 in the Fort Madison Community School District in Fort Madison, Iowa, with a student population of 695.

While the school has a relatively low student-teacher ratio, it has consistently underperformed compared to the state average on the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP) in both English Language Arts and Mathematics. For example, in the 2023-2024 school year, the percentage of students proficient or better in ELA ranged from 51.3% (5th grade) to 69% (8th grade), while the state averages ranged from 69% (5th grade) to 77.5% (8th grade). Similarly, in Mathematics, the school's proficiency rates ranged from 47.1% (5th grade) to 61.4% (8th grade), compared to the state averages of 70.7% (5th grade) to 73.2% (8th grade). As a result, Fort Madison Middle School has consistently ranked in the bottom half of Iowa middle schools, with a ranking between 225 and 290 out of 337 schools in recent years.

Interestingly, the nearby middle schools, such as Aldo Leopold Intermediate School, Edward Stone Middle School, Keokuk Middle School, and Central Lee Middle School, generally perform better than Fort Madison Middle School on academic measures, despite the fact that Fort Madison Middle School has a higher spending per student and a lower student-teacher ratio. This suggests that the school's challenges may not be solely related to resource allocation, and examining the practices and strategies of the higher-performing nearby schools may provide insights into how Fort Madison Middle School can improve its academic performance and overall effectiveness.