Five Story County school districts received overall grades ranging from B+ to C+ in Niche’s latest county evaluations, placing them in the listing’s lowest-graded group.
The 2027 evaluations produce an unusual result: One district received a C+, while four tied at B+.
Their profiles reveal substantial differences, from college-credit participation to reading results and career training. The four B+ districts appear alphabetically below, followed by Colo-NESCO, which received the lowest overall grade.
Ames Community School District — Overall Niche Grade: B+
Ames Community School District serves preschool through 12th grade in Ames. Its current Niche profile lists 4,728 students and a student-teacher ratio of 14:1, making it considerably larger than the other districts featured here.
College Preparation Earns a Stronger Mark
Niche gives Ames an A− for college preparation and an A− for clubs and activities, alongside B+ grades for academics and teachers. Administration receives a B−, illustrating how uneven the categories behind an overall grade can be.
The profile reports 77% reading proficiency and 76% math proficiency from Iowa’s 2024–25 statewide assessment program. Most tested students met the proficiency threshold, but those figures also leave a substantial group below it.
That distinction matters in a district offering advanced coursework: College preparation and support for students still mastering foundational skills are both consequential parts of the educational experience.
Thousands of College Credits Before Graduation
DMACC’s Ames High School partnership supplies a concrete example of those advanced opportunities. Its 2025–26 profile reports 562 students enrolled in DMACC classes and 4,589 college credits earned.
The course list stretches across composition, creative writing, bookkeeping, statistics and calculus. It also includes occupational experience and internship-related coursework, giving the partnership a reach beyond conventional college-preparatory subjects.
Courses offered through the high school are taught by Ames instructors certified by DMACC, with the school covering the cost to students.
For families, the useful detail is the actual course sequence available to their teenager.
A student interested in writing, business or mathematics could encounter quite different opportunities within the same district—and each would be compressed into that single B+.
Ballard Community School District — Overall Niche Grade: B+
Ballard serves preschool through 12th grade across the Huxley, Slater, Cambridge and Kelley area. Its Niche profile lists 1,966 students and a 15:1 student-teacher ratio.
Strong Teacher and Academic Grades
Ballard’s overall B+ comes with an A for teachers and an A− for academics. Its administration category receives a C+, a noticeably less favorable evaluation within the same profile.
For the 2024–25 statewide assessment program, Niche reports 84% math proficiency and 81% reading proficiency. Those results give families a more specific picture of tested achievement than the overall letter alone.
The district also operates across several communities. The City of Kelley’s school information identifies school buildings in Slater, Cambridge and Huxley, an everyday consideration for families planning transportation and transitions between schools.
Ballard’s districtwide figures therefore describe a school system spread across towns, rather than one campus or one neighborhood.
College Courses With Familiar Teachers
DMACC’s Ballard partnership offers college-credit courses taught by Ballard instructors certified by the college. The high school covers the course cost, so participating students are not charged for those classes.
Listed offerings include composition, literature, applied mathematics, general physics and public speaking. The arrangement gives students a way to attempt college-level work while remaining in their high school setting.
DMACC’s profile labeled 2025–26 reports 411 participating students and 3,133 credits earned. That documents substantial use of the partnership, although it does not tell families which particular courses will fit an individual student’s schedule.
The practical distinction is worth keeping: Ballard’s overall grade places it in this comparison, while its teacher evaluation, assessment results and college-credit offerings describe several areas of strength.
Collins-Maxwell Community School District — Overall Niche Grade: B+
Collins-Maxwell serves preschool through 12th grade, with its elementary school in Collins and its middle and high school in Maxwell. Niche lists 372 students and a student-teacher ratio of 10:1.
Reading and Math Tell Different Stories
The district receives an A for teachers and a B+ for academics. College preparation receives a B−, making it a weaker category than the teacher evaluation.
Its assessment figures also warrant a closer look. Niche reports 83% reading proficiency and 74% math proficiency for Iowa’s 2024–25 testing program—a nine-percentage-point difference between the subjects.
That gap identifies mathematics as a useful area for families to examine more closely, without establishing why the difference exists. The districtwide figure does not reveal whether a particular grade or group needs more support.
The district’s middle and high school website identifies a sixth-through-12th-grade campus and lists guidance counseling, student-support and special-education staff.
Those services are particularly relevant when a family moves from broad district statistics to a child’s specific learning needs.
A Small District With College-Credit Connections
Size has not prevented Collins-Maxwell from establishing college-credit options. DMACC lists precalculus, applied mathematics and career exploration among the courses available through its high school partnership.
The college says participating high school courses are taught by district instructors certified by DMACC, with the high school covering the cost. Students can also access offerings at the Hunziker Career Academy.
For 2025–26, DMACC reports 47 participating students and 362 credits earned through the Collins-Maxwell partnership.
Those are documented opportunities alongside the lower college-preparation category grade. For a prospective student, the next question is concrete: Which courses, prerequisites and support services fit the path they hope to follow after high school?
Nevada Community School District — Overall Niche Grade: B+
Nevada Community School District serves preschool through 12th grade in Nevada and the surrounding area. Its Niche profile lists 1,572 students and a student-teacher ratio of 14:1.
A Strong State Evaluation, With a Reading Goal Ahead
Niche assigns Nevada a B+ for academics and an A− for teachers. Its profile reports 82% reading proficiency and 81% math proficiency from the 2024–25 statewide assessment program.
A separate evaluation offers additional context. In its February 2026 district newsletter, Nevada reports receiving Iowa’s “High Performing” district designation. That is a state accountability classification, separate from Niche’s overall letter grade.
The district’s 2025 achievement report also identifies unfinished work in early literacy. In spring 2025, 75% of students in kindergarten through sixth grade met the FAST literacy benchmark, compared with 65% statewide, but below the district’s 80% target.
FAST screening and statewide proficiency assessments measure different things. Together, these records show how a district can outperform a benchmark while still falling short of its own goal.
Welding Training at the High School
Nevada also hosts a distinctive regional opportunity: DMACC’s welding academy operates at the Nevada High School welding lab.
The listed sequence includes welding safety, print reading, welding symbols and several welding processes. Completing all coursework provides 10 DMACC credits and a Blueprint Reading and Production MIG Welding Certificate.
That gives students a specific technical pathway to investigate alongside traditional academic options. It also demonstrates why a district’s college-preparation category cannot fully describe every route beyond graduation.
For students interested in working with their hands, the location, course sequence and credential may be more immediately useful information than a small difference between overall letter grades.
Colo-NESCO Community School District — Overall Niche Grade: C+
Colo-NESCO received the lowest overall grade among Niche’s seven Story County entries. Its current profile lists 385 students in preschool through 12th grade and a student-teacher ratio of 10:1.
A Three-Town District With Academic Gaps
The district serves Colo, Zearing and McCallsburg. According to its official district overview, preschool through fourth grade is housed in Zearing, while fifth through 12th grade is housed in Colo.
Niche gives Colo-NESCO B− grades for academics, teachers and college preparation. Clubs and activities receive a C+, while administration receives a C.
Its profile reports 73% reading proficiency and 71% math proficiency from the 2024–25 statewide testing program. Those results leave more than a quarter of tested students below proficiency in each subject.
The reported 10:1 staffing ratio provides another piece of context, but it is not an average classroom headcount or evidence that every student receives the same amount of individual attention.
Like the other ratios in this article, it compares students with full-time-equivalent teachers.
Agriculture and Composition Carry College Credit
Colo-NESCO’s offerings extend beyond its two school buildings. The district says qualifying high school students can take academic and vocational classes through DMACC’s Hunziker center in Ames.
At the high school itself, DMACC lists college-credit courses in agricultural entrepreneurship and Composition I and II. The high school covers the cost of these partnership courses.
Agricultural entrepreneurship gives the course list a locally relevant dimension, while the composition sequence provides an academic option that students can pursue before graduating.
These offerings do not resolve the district’s proficiency gaps. They do, however, establish that the lowest overall grade in the comparison coexists with specific opportunities for advanced study—information families would miss if they stopped at the letter.
A County Comparison With More Than One Kind of School Experience
The striking feature of this comparison is how much it compresses. Four districts share a B+, yet their enrollment ranges from 372 students at Collins-Maxwell to 4,728 at Ames.
A shared overall grade does not mean families will encounter the same courses, school transitions or student-support arrangements.
Niche’s current methodology combines academic results with factors including teachers, school culture and diversity, family surveys, resources, activities and sports.
Its overall grades therefore reflect several dimensions of school experience beyond standardized-test performance.
There is also a regional connection that district boundaries can obscure: DMACC’s Hunziker Career Academy serves students from all seven districts in Niche’s county listing.
Some opportunities are shared across the area, even when individual high schools offer different courses.
Geography requires care, too. Story County’s official jurisdictional information confirms that Ballard, Collins-Maxwell and Colo-NESCO extend into neighboring counties. Their districtwide figures include students beyond Story County.
