Montezuma Junior High School

Montezuma Junior High School is a public middle school serving grades 6-8 in Montezuma, Iowa, part of the Montezuma Community School District. With 106 students and a student-teacher ratio of around 12:1, the school has consistently strong academic performance, often outperforming the state average in both English Language Arts and Mathematics.

For example, in the 2024-2025 school year, 92.9% of 7th graders and 92.3% of 8th graders at Montezuma Junior High School were proficient or better in ELA, compared to the state averages of 74.9% and 80.2% respectively. In Mathematics, 92.3% of 8th graders were proficient or better, compared to the state average of 74.4%. This impressive academic achievement is particularly noteworthy given the school's relatively low spending per student of $7,329 in 2018-2019, lower than the nearby Lynnville-Sully Middle School ($10,764 per student) and Grinnell Community Middle School ($12,622 per student).

While Montezuma Junior High School's academic performance is strong, the school does face some challenges, including higher-than-average chronic absenteeism rates ranging from 20.2% to 23.4% in recent years. Additionally, the school has a significant population of students from low-income families, with 34.91% to 39.29% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch in recent years. Despite these challenges, Montezuma Junior High School has maintained a strong academic performance, ranking between 79 and 191 out of 324-344 Iowa middle schools in recent years, demonstrating the school's ability to effectively utilize its resources to support student learning.