Oskaloosa Public Schools

Oskaloosa Public Schools has two schools serving preschool through grade 12: Oskaloosa Elementary (255 students) and Oskaloosa Junior-Senior High School (247), for 502 students combined. The clearest pattern is a wide difference by grade: elementary students in grades 3 and 4 scored well below state results, while some results in grades 5 and 6 were above them. Third-grade math was 32 points below the state, while sixth-grade math was 17 points above—making a child’s grade an especially important part of the picture.

The elementary school stands out in all-grades ELA and science, while the high school leads in math. In 2025–2026, elementary results were 40% in ELA and 50% in science, compared with 31% and 31% at the high school; the elementary advantage was 9 points in ELA and 19 in science. The high school scored 38% in math versus 33% at the elementary school, a 5-point lead. Compared with state results, elementary science was 12 points higher, the strongest overall subject comparison; both schools were below the state in ELA. The sharpest grade-level weakness was elementary third-grade math: 10% proficient versus 43% statewide. A notable high-school strength was seventh-grade math, at 50% versus 38% statewide.

Recent changes were mixed rather than uniformly positive. The two-school average ELA gap with the state widened from 8 points in 2024–2025 to 11 points in 2025–2026; the math gap stayed about 5 points, while the schools’ science advantage narrowed from 7 points to 2. The elementary school’s ELA result fell 7 points, while high-school science fell 14 points; high-school ELA and math each improved. SchoolDigger rates the elementary school 2 stars, at the 34th percentile, and the high school 1 star, at the 24th percentile. The schools have similar student-teacher ratios (9.3 and 9.2) and free/reduced-lunch rates (55% and 53%); chronic absenteeism was 12% at the elementary school and 16% at the high school, versus 18% statewide.