Summary:
The Irene - Wakonda School District 13-3 serves 293 students in three schools: PK–6 at the elementary school, grades 7–8 at the junior high, and grades 9–12 at the high school. The clearest area-wide concern is that the lower schools’ results fell further behind the state: their equally averaged ELA gap widened from 3 points below the state in 2024–2025 to 12 points below in 2025–2026, and their math gap widened from 4 to 13 points below, with especially large declines at the junior high.
The high school has the area’s strongest standout result: grade 11 science proficiency was 65%, 20 points above the state, while its 50% ELA result was 2 points above; math was the counterpoint at 15%, 19 points below the state. The junior high’s grade 8 science result was also strong at 60%, 20 points above the state, though its all-grades math result was 27%, 17 points below. At the elementary, all-grades ELA was 32% versus 49% statewide, while grade 4 ELA was a particular low point at 21%, 27 points below the state. Grade 6 ELA (44%) and grade 4 math (42%) were relative bright spots within that school. Because the schools serve different grade spans, their all-grades results are not direct head-to-head comparisons.
Recent changes reinforce the need to look beyond schoolwide averages: junior-high ELA fell 18 points, from 59% to 41%, and math fell 18 points, from 46% to 27%; the elementary’s ELA declined 5 points, while its math was nearly unchanged, rising from 33% to 34%. SchoolDigger ranked the high school at the 51st percentile, the junior high at the 35th, and the elementary at the 16th in 2025–2026; the district ranked 96th of 126, at the 24th percentile, with one star. In 2024–2025, student-teacher ratios were 12.1 at the elementary and 14.1 at both other schools; the free/reduced lunch eligible shares that year were 35%, 26%, and 28%, respectively. These are useful context, not explanations for the different results.
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