Summary:
Five schools in zip code 62298 serve students from preschool through grade 12: three elementary schools, a junior high and a high school, all part of Waterloo CUSD 5. They enroll 2,767 students altogether, with school sizes ranging from 374 to 876. Attendance is favorable across the group: chronic absenteeism ranges from 4% at Rogers Elementary School to 12% at Waterloo Junior High School, below the state’s 24%. The clearest overall strength is that all four schools with reported test results were above the state result in each supplied 2025–26 comparison.
Rogers stands out in grade 3 math, with 75% proficient—25 points above the state—and has the lowest absenteeism. Waterloo Junior High stands out in ELA, at 79% across grades 6–8, 22 points above the state; however, its all-grades math result was 7 points below the district. Gardner Elementary School reached 69% in grade 5 science, 21 points above the state. Waterloo High School was above state results across its supplied ACT and PreACT subjects; its smallest advantage was 6 points in grade 10 PreACT ELA. Since schools serve different grades, these figures are not a like-for-like school ranking. W J Zahnow Elementary School has no test-score result listed.
Recent changes are mixed: the average state-relative gap across matched results narrowed from 16 points in 2024–25 to 15 in 2025–26, while Junior High improved in IAR ELA and math and Rogers’ results fell in both subjects. SchoolDigger’s statewide ranking percentile also declined from 2023–24 to 2025–26 at Waterloo High (89th to 83rd), Junior High (90th to 80th) and Gardner (84th to 80th). Student-teacher ratios range from 14.7 to 17.1. The free/reduced lunch eligible measure for 2024–25 ranges from 18% at Junior High to 25% at Zahnow; these figures provide context, not an explanation of results. Waterloo High’s 2025–26 graduation rate was 94%, matching the district and above the state’s 90%.
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