Marshalltown High School

The Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) is proud to share encouraging results from the 2025 Iowa School Performance Profiles, which show measurable progress across multiple schools and key areas of student success.

The Iowa School Performance Profiles serve as the state’s official “report card” for public schools. Created to meet state and federal accountability requirements, the system evaluates schools on a range of measures, including student proficiency and growth in reading, math, and science; attendance and chronic absenteeism; English learner progress; and, for high schools, graduation rates and postsecondary readiness. Schools are then assigned to one of six performance categories: Exceptional, High Performing, Commendable, Acceptable, Needs Improvement, or Priority.

This year, four MCSD schools earned a “Commendable” rating, moving the district closer to its strategic goal of having all schools at that level by 2030. Notably, chronic absenteeism decreased by 6%, demonstrating the success of recent efforts to improve student attendance and engagement.

Among the highlights:

• Fisher Elementary, Franklin Elementary, Hoglan Elementary, and Woodbury Elementary all achieved “Commendable” status.

• Anson Elementary maintained an “Acceptable” rating and is steadily improving toward the district’s long-term goal.

• Marshalltown High School and Miller Middle School both made overall point gains on the Iowa School Performance Profiles, showing growth in proficiency and progress, even though subgroup performance impacted their categorical ratings.

• Buildings serving students in grades 5-12  remain designated for additional targeted support for subgroups, and are within reach of advancing to higher categories with continued improvement.
  

“The Marshalltown Community School District has a clear vision, with a goal that by 2030, every building will be rated 'commendable or higher' on the Iowa School Performance Profile (ISPP),” said Executive Director of Educational Services Dr. Shauna Smith. “We're not just hoping for improvement; we're actively strategizing at each school to improve each year. We're aware of the challenges, like the ISPP formula that decreases a building's category because of a single underperforming subgroup. This formula often fails to reflect the true, overall excellence of a school, however, we won’t let that impact our commitment to continuous improvement.”

While celebrating these gains, district leaders acknowledge that important work remains. The performance of specific student subgroups continues to affect overall ratings at the middle and high school levels. MCSD is committed to addressing these achievement gaps with focused instructional strategies, stronger supports for English learners and special education students, and continued investments in student engagement.

“We are encouraged with our students’ most recent performance on the annual State assessments for increased proficiency in reading and math,” said Superintendent Dr. Theron Schutte. “Our teachers continue to work hard to figure out the right combination of supports that enable all students to learn and grow within their classrooms. Our buildings continue to develop annual improvement plans for those areas identified for targeted improvement such as special education, English language learners and reducing chronic absenteeism. Whether a student is high performing or lacking in skills, our goal is to move them in a significant positive direction toward making them Bobcat Ready.”