The Johnston Brief
Good schools are the main reason families keep moving to Johnston, and the first thing anyone moving here asks about. Here's the plain-English map of the Johnston Community School District: every school, how the grades are split up, which building your address actually affects, and how open enrollment works if you're coming from outside town.
Almost all of Johnston is in the Johnston Community School District - about 7,480 students, one of Iowa's higher-ranked districts (around #12 statewide on Niche for 2026). It runs one high school (Johnston High, the Dragons), two middle schools (Summit and Johnston Middle), five K-5 elementary schools, and an early learning academy. Because there's a single high school, only your elementary school depends on your address. Find it with the district's Schools page and elementary locator.
First day is Monday, Aug 24, 2026, with an early dismissal, and kindergarten has a staggered start (no kindergarten Aug 26). Registration runs through the district's enrollment office.
Here's what makes Johnston simpler than most metro districts: only your elementary school is set by your home address. Every student in town attends the same two middle schools and the same one high school, so there are no middle or high school attendance boundaries to figure out. To find your assigned elementary, use the district's online elementary school locator on the Schools page, or ask the enrollment office: Johnston school locator & Schools page →
Unlike districts with rival feeder systems, Johnston funnels everyone together: after your zoned elementary, all students continue to Summit Middle School (grades 6-7), then Johnston Middle School (grades 8-9), then Johnston High School (grades 10-12). So your address choice really only changes which elementary your child starts at.
The five K-5 elementary schools are Beaver Creek, Horizon, Lawson, Timber Ridge, and Wallace, plus the Johnston Early Learning Academy for preschool. Your elementary is set by home address; use the district's locator to confirm which one serves you.
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Yes, and it's a big part of why families move here. Johnston Senior High ranks among the top Des Moines-area public high schools, with roughly 77% of students proficient in math and 79% in reading on recent state data. Its current building opened in 2017 (an $81 million project from a 2013 bond) and serves grades 10-12. Through the DMACC Career Advantage program, Johnston juniors and seniors can earn free college credit, and in 2026 several seniors finished a full DMACC associate degree before high school graduation. The high school also runs Gifted & Talented, Project Lead The Way, and AP coursework. On the field, the Johnston Dragons compete in the CIML, one of Iowa's deepest conferences.
Open enrollment is the Iowa process that lets you send your child to a Johnston school if you live in another district, or to a different Iowa district if you live in Johnston. Under Iowa law, Johnston generally must accept open-enrollment students unless a specific building is full. There are annual deadlines (typically in the spring for the following year, with some exceptions for moves), and it all runs through the district's enrollment office. Details and forms: Johnston open enrollment →
Almost all of Johnston is served by the Johnston Community School District, one of the highest-ranked districts in Iowa with about 7,480 students across eight buildings: one high school, two middle schools, five K-5 elementary schools, and an early learning academy.
In Johnston, only your elementary school is set by home address; every student attends the same two middle schools and one high school. Use the district's online elementary school locator on the Johnston Community School District Schools page at johnstoncsd.org, or contact the district enrollment office to confirm your assigned elementary.
Johnston has one comprehensive public high school, Johnston High School, home of the Dragons, serving grades 10-12. Because there is a single high school, there are no high school attendance boundaries within the district; every Johnston student attends Johnston High.
Yes. Under Iowa's open enrollment statute, the Johnston district generally must accept open-enrollment students from other districts unless a specific building is full. Applications run through the district enrollment office; deadlines and forms are on the Johnston Community School District open enrollment page.
Johnston is consistently one of Iowa's higher-performing suburban districts, ranked around #12 in the state by Niche for 2026, and Johnston High carries a Niche A- grade. For current, objective ratings, check the Iowa Department of Education report card and independent sites like GreatSchools and Niche.
The five elementary schools serve grades K-5, Summit Middle School serves grades 6-7, Johnston Middle School serves grades 8-9, and Johnston High School serves grades 10-12. The Johnston Early Learning Academy handles preschool.
The first day of the 2026-27 school year in the Johnston Community School District is Monday, Aug 24, 2026, with an early dismissal. Kindergarten has a staggered start, with no kindergarten on Aug 26.
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