Grinnell Public Schools

Grinnell Public Schools includes two small schools serving prekindergarten through grade 8: Grinnell Grade School (PK–4, 43 students) and Grinnell Middle School (grades 5–8, 22 students). The most striking finding is the wide gap in their 2025–26 reported all-grade proficiency: the Grade School was ahead by 43 percentage points in ELA and 34 points in math.

Grinnell Grade School stands out at the top of the two schools’ reported ELA and math results, with 91% proficient in ELA and 82% in math; Grinnell Middle School reported 48% in each subject. Both schools were above state results in those subjects: the Grade School by 45 points in ELA and 41 in math, and the Middle School by 2 and 7 points, respectively. The Middle School also reported 45% proficiency in science, 7 points above the state; no Grade School science result was supplied. Because the schools serve different grades, these are school-level comparisons, not same-grade comparisons.

Reported ELA and math results rose at both schools from 2024–25 to 2025–26. Grade School ELA increased by 22 percentage points and math by 20; Middle School ELA rose by 14 points and math by 17. SchoolDigger’s Middle School ranking also improved, from the 12th percentile in 2023–24 to the 69th percentile in 2025–26. Other indicators give families useful context but do not explain the score differences: student-teacher ratios were 7.7 at the Grade School and 5.3 at the Middle School, while free/reduced-lunch rates were 47% and 45%. The Grade School also reported higher chronic absenteeism—26%, compared with 2% at the Middle School—despite its stronger proficiency results. The Middle School’s 2024–25 dropout rate was 18%, compared with 1% statewide.