WATERLOO — Six of the area’s high schools were among the top 25% of public high schools in the U.S., according to a report released Tuesday.
U.S. News & World Report looked at nearly 18,000 high schools across the nation and ranked them based on college readiness with Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams; reading, math and science proficiency; performance of underserved students; and graduation rates.
There are 317 Iowa high schools and 16 in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metro area.
The six area schools in the nation’s top 25% are also in the top 10% for the state. Those include Cedar Falls, Denver, Hudson, Waverly-Shell Rock, Waterloo West and Grundy Center. These schools also climbed the charts from where they were last year. Last year, only Cedar Falls and Denver were in the top 25%.
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Waterloo West and East’s ranks rose significantly. West jumped up more than 3,000 spots while East rose at least 1,219 spots. Last year, East was in the bottom 25% of schools so it received a range rather than a specific ranking. Schools in the bottom quarter this year are BCLUW, Dunkerton and Janesville. Tripoli also made its way out of the bottom 25% this year.
Cedar Falls High School ranked first out of the 16 in the metro area. It is 12th in the state and has a national ranking of 2,316. The next three high schools in the area and their state and national rankings are Denver (18 and 3,220), Hudson (23 and 3,975) and Waverly-Shell Rock (28 and 4,205).
Waterloo West is ranked number five and Waterloo East at 11.
Expo in Waterloo is not included in the ranking because their enrollment was too small to be analyzed.
Based on the percentage of a state’s high school in the top 25% of the rankings, Iowa sits at 44 of the 50 states. States performing lower than Iowa include Mississippi, South Dakota, North Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Maine.
Iowa City’s West Senior High is the only school in the state in the top 5% of the nation in 626th place. There are seven schools in the top 10% and 31 in the top 25%.
Massachusetts is the top-ranked state, with 43.9% of its high schools in the top quarter across the country.
For more information on the rankings, visit .
Districts where student-teacher ratios are still behind pre-pandemic levels
Districts where student-teacher ratios are still behind pre-pandemic levels
In one-third of all school districts, the number of students per teacher is getting higher. Some states are grappling with ratios as high as nearly 40 students for every teacher, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Nationally, the ratio is 15.4 students for every teacher, which aligns with the decades-long student-to-teacher ratio of 16 students for every teacher. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, some school systems are dealing with larger class sizes and fewer teachers to teach them, hurting the quality of education and overwhelming educators.
used data from the to explore how student-teacher ratios have changed between the last full school year before the pandemic (2018-19) and the latest year with data available (2022-23). Teachers are measured as full-time equivalents, meaning the count is based on hours worked rather than the raw number of employees. School districts with fewer than 250 students in 2022-23 are not included in the analysis as the ratios of smaller districts are more volatile when teacher count changes.
Studies show that smaller class sizes and lower student-teacher ratios create better learning environments and have a positive long-term effect. For instance, students who had increased their odds of graduating from college by 80%, according to a National Council of Professors of Educational Administration policy brief on class-size policy from 2012. For students from low-income homes, three years of small classes increased graduation for college by 67%; graduation rates for poor students with three or more years of small classes were at least equal to higher-income pupils, the NCPEA brief said.
Teacher vacancies since the pandemic forced school districts to overfill classrooms, which hurts student-to-teacher ratios; incorporate virtual learning, even though students are proven to learn better in person; and use permanent substitutes, who may not be as skilled as pre-pandemic substitutes. Special education and STEM teachers are needed the most.
Low salaries, lack of support keep potential teachers away
Despite too few teachers and plenty of job openings, employment numbers have remained relatively flat since 2021. That’s due in part to salaries not keeping pace with demand. In addition, fewer college students are hurting the talent pipeline.
Fed up with large classes and waning support, some school teachers have started to strike or lobby state governments for better working conditions.
Teachers in Columbus, Ohio—the largest school district in the Buckeye State—went on strike in the fall of 2022 partly to get class sizes reduced. Oregon teachers also went on strike around the same time, reaching an agreement that certain class-size thresholds would equate to additional compensation: If a kindergarten teacher has a target of 18 students and ends up with 24, for example, they could get an annual base salary increase.
Last year, Minnesota legislators voted to include in collective bargaining discussions.
Districts with high instances of poverty continue to bear the brunt of understaffing
Districts with high instances of poverty continue to bear the brunt of understaffing.
For the current school year, 45% of all public schools That metric represents a slight improvement from the previous year’s 53%, according to the NCES’ School Pulse Panel. However, in high-poverty neighborhoods, 57% still grapple with understaffing, mirroring last year’s levels.
In Florida’s Hendry County, the student-to-teacher ratio is the highest in the U.S. The county also has 25% poverty rate—106% higher than the U.S. average. Population growth in the area is only exacerbating student-to-teacher ratios. Its local high school, LaBelle High School in Port LaBelle, Florida, was designed for . Because the county has so many new students, it has brought in portable classrooms to accommodate the growth.
Nevada last year topped the nation with caused by low pay and pupil growth.
For the state to fix the problem, 9,800 , which would cost the state $800 million, according to a 2021 Nevada Department of Education study.
Story editing by Nicole Caldwell. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn.
This story originally appeared on and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.