Summary:
ZIP code 66749 has one middle school, Iola Middle School, serving grades 6–8 with 238 students, so families will find no other local middle school to compare. In 2025–2026, its science proficiency was 41%, above Kansas’s 38%, while English language arts (ELA) was 36% versus 46% statewide and math was 26% versus 41%. The most important concern is math: results were 15 percentage points below the state overall and below state results in every tested grade.
Science is the school’s strongest subject relative to Kansas, while math is its weakest. The difference between Iola’s all-grades science and math results was 15 points; science was 3 points above the state, compared with a 10-point ELA gap and a 15-point math gap. The math shortfall shows up in grades 6, 7 and 8, ranging from 11 to 16 points below state results. ELA also varies by grade: seventh grade had the widest gap, at 12 points below the state, while eighth grade was 2 points below. These results make science a relative bright spot, but math the clearest academic weakness.
Results improved in some areas over time, but not across the board. Science proficiency rose from 30% to 41% between 2024–2025 and 2025–2026, moving from 11 points below the state to 3 points above it. Math rose from 22% to 26%, yet remained substantially behind; ELA slipped from 37% to 36%, and its gap with the state widened from 8 to 10 points. SchoolDigger’s statewide percentile improved from the 17th in 2023–2024 to the 28th in 2025–2026, though that measure does not mean every subject improved. Chronic absenteeism was 26%, compared with 18% statewide. The student–teacher ratio was 9.3, and the free/reduced-lunch rate was 62%; these figures offer context, not an explanation for test results.
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