Howard School District 48-3

Howard School District 48-3 has four schools spanning elementary through high school: two elementary schools, a junior high and a high school. In 2025–26, the three schools with all-grades elementary and junior-high results were above the state in both ELA and math, though their results varied. Their average math score was 64%, 20 points above the state’s 44%; their average ELA score was 54%, 5 points above the state’s 49%. The clearest shared academic strength across these schools is math, where the average advantage over the state was 15 points greater than in ELA.

Howard Junior High led all-grades ELA at 59%, 9 points above Shannon Colony Elementary at 50%; the latter was still 1 point above the state. In math, Shannon Colony and Howard Elementary were essentially tied at 67%, while the junior high scored 59%. Howard High School stands out within its grade 11 ACT group: 80% were proficient in ELA, 75% in math and 65% in science, respectively 32, 41 and 20 points above the state. Its graduation rate was 100%, compared with 88% statewide. Some grade-level results were weaker than schoolwide results: fifth-grade ELA at Howard Elementary was 4 points below the state, and seventh-grade ELA at the junior high was 3 points below. The high school’s ACT and graduation results are not directly comparable with the other schools’ Smarter Balanced results.

All three non-high schools’ all-grades ELA and math scores fell from 2024–25 to 2025–26; average scores declined by about 6 points in each subject, and their advantages over the state narrowed. Howard Elementary had the largest individual drops: 10 points in ELA and 13 in math. SchoolDigger ranks Howard High 2nd of 130 statewide, Howard Junior High 24th of 151 and Howard Elementary 47th of 203; it gives the district a five-star rating and ranks it 8th of 126. Staffing ratios range from 9.9 students per teacher at the high school to 16.4 at the junior high. Free/reduced lunch eligible figures were 13% at Howard High, 17% at Howard Elementary and 17% at the junior high for 2024–25; Shannon Colony reported 9% for 2022–23, so it is from a different year. These figures provide context, not an explanation for results.