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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Altoona Elementary?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
429
Elementary
DISTRICT 441 · STATE 325
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SOUTHEAST POLK COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 192682001566
Altoona Elementary
301 6th St SW, Altoona, IA 50009 · (515) 967-3771 · Polk County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL429 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 80% of Iowa public elementary schools
- B+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Iowa public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
12.3:1
35 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.7:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
53%
229 students
DISTRICT 40% · STATE 41%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 33 | 8% |
| Kindergarten | 65 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 66 | 15% |
| Grade 2 | 73 | 17% |
| Grade 3 | 70 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 52 | 12% |
| Grade 5 | 70 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (65) is 7% smaller than its 5th grade class (70).
Student demographics
54%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 49% · STATE 48% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Altoona Elementary→Southeast Polk Middle School→Southeast Polk Junior High→Southeast Polk High School
Based on grade levels within Southeast Polk Comm School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ISASP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
76.8%
IA avg 73.6% . -0.2pp since 2023
Math
81.0%
IA avg 70.9% . -2.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 77 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 81 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Iowa schools, those numbers are about 74 and 71. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2023, while math scores are down about 3 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 76.8% | 81.0% |
| 2023-24 | 77.0% | 83.5% |
% Proficient, all students and all tested grades.
Source: ISASP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of IA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
76.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
65.2%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+11.7pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 77% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 65% typical for Iowa schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 12 points, placing it in Iowa's top 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Altoona Elementary
Altoona Elementary's state test result (76.9% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Altoona Elementary this school | 429 | 53.4% | 76.9% |
| Willowbrook Elementary Altoona | 523 | 53.0% | 63.5% |
| Orange Elementary School Waterloo | 518 | 49.6% | 76.1% |
| Erskine Elementary School Cedar Rapids | 308 | 53.2% | 70.1% |
| Sunnyside Elementary School Burlington | 298 | 56.0% | 74.7% |
| Kingsley Elementary School Waterloo | 337 | 49.9% | 75.3% |
Matched among Iowa elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Altoona Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 76.9% | #197 of 564 | #25 of 78 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 81.0% | #202 of 564 ▼ 67 | #23 of 78 ▼ 8 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 76.8% | #215 of 564 ▼ 48 | #27 of 78 ▼ 3 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 429 | #185 of 705 | #45 of 89 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.3:1 | #147 of 561 | #23 of 86 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 54.3% | #182 of 561 | #56 of 86 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 53.4% | #181 of 666 | #41 of 89 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -4.9% | #290 of 359 | #50 of 64 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
429
+16 (+4%) vs 2020
-6% since 1990-91, when it was 456
Student : Teacher
12.3:1
was 13.8:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 429 | 35 | 12.3:1 | 53% (229) |
| 2023-24 | 423 | 35 | 12.1:1 | 53% (225) |
| 2022-23 | 419 | 33.8 | 12.4:1 | 50% (208) |
| 2020-21 | 413 | 30 | 13.8:1 | 44% (182) |
| 2017-18 | 451 | 30.8 | 14.7:1 | 32% (145) |
| 2015-16 | 438 | 25 | 17.5:1 | 34% (148) |
| 2010-11 | 388 | 29 | 13.4:1 | 31% (120) |
| 2000-01 | 388 | 25 | 15.5:1 | 25% (97) |
| 1990-91 | 456 | 23 | 19.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Altoona Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 5% (451 to 429); teachers up 14% (30.8 to 35).
About Altoona Elementary
Altoona Elementary is an elementary school with a street address in Altoona, Iowa. Enrolled students number 429 students, in pre-K through 5. Enrollment is 32% higher than the average for elementary schools in Iowa, which is about 325.
Southeast Polk Comm School District counts 6,359 students in its 10 schools, and Altoona Elementary is one of them.
White students account for 65% of enrollment at Altoona Elementary. Enrollment also includes 15% Black, 10% Hispanic, 7% multiracial, and 2% Asian. The school's White share is 11 points below the 76% share among Polk County residents. The chance that two students picked at random at Altoona Elementary belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 54%.
Its 35 full-time-equivalent teachers give the school a ratio of 12.3:1. The average ratio among elementary schools in Iowa is 13.7:1, higher than at this school. The school's lunch program data list 53% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
Measured against Iowa public elementary schools, Altoona Elementary receives an A-. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Altoona Elementary is a top-10% school in Iowa on BeatsExpectations, beating its predicted average proficiency rate on state tests of 65.2% with an actual 76.9%.
Among Polk County residents, median household income is about $83,576, about 40% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 7% of residents are in poverty. Altoona Elementary is one of 137 public schools in Polk County, which together enroll about 77,436 students.
The nearest other public school, Centennial Elementary, is about 0.6 miles away. The count of other public schools within five miles is at least 8. Ranked by average proficiency, Altoona Elementary places 5th out of 8 schools in its immediate area.
NCES lists the school's locale as Suburb: Large. That means it sits in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, the student count climbed from 413 to 429. Federal data show the ratio falling from 13.8:1 to 12.3:1.
Families, students, and staff can use this page to discuss sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week at Altoona Elementary. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Polk County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
503,175
Census ACS
Median income
$83,576
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
40%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
137
77,436 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Southeast Polk Comm School District
- Southeast Polk High SchoolHigh · 1,722 students
- Southeast Polk Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,112 students
- Clay ElementaryElementary · 700 students
- Willowbrook ElementaryElementary · 523 students
- Four Mile ElementaryElementary · 495 students
- Delaware ElementaryElementary · 440 students
Other schools in Altoona
- Southeast Polk Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,112 students
- Clay ElementaryElementary · 700 students
- Willowbrook ElementaryElementary · 523 students
- Centennial ElementaryElementary · 423 students
Other Altoona Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Altoona Elementary. Altoona Elementary is the 2nd largest of the 2.
- Altoona ElementaryAltoona, WI · 555 students
Nearby schools
- Centennial Elementary0.6 mi · 423
- Willowbrook Elementary0.9 mi · 523
- Southeast Polk Middle School1.1 mi · 1,112
- Clay Elementary1.7 mi · 700
- Delaware Elementary2.8 mi · 440
- Morris Elementary3.3 mi · 601
Frequently asked questions
About Altoona ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Altoona Elementary?
Altoona Elementary enrolls approximately 429 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Altoona Elementary serve?
Altoona Elementary serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Altoona Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Altoona Elementary is approximately 12.3:1 (35 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at Altoona Elementary?
Student demographics at Altoona Elementary are roughly 65% White, 10% Hispanic, 15% Black, 2% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Is Altoona Elementary public or private?
Altoona Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Southeast Polk Comm School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.