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What advice would you give to incoming students at Cherokee Elementary School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
468
Elementary
DISTRICT 388 · STATE 325
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CHEROKEE COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 190717000332
Cherokee Elementary School
204 E. Indian Street, Cherokee, IA 51012 · (712) 225-6760 · Cherokee County
GRADES PK–04ELEMENTARY33-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL468 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
14.1:1
33 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.2:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
50%
234 students
DISTRICT 45% · STATE 41%
Community
3
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. 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
Based on grade levels within Cherokee Comm School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ISASP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
57.4%
IA avg 73.6% . -6.3pp since 2023
Math
64.8%
IA avg 70.9% . -15.6pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 57 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 65 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Iowa schools, those numbers are about 74 and 71. Reading and writing scores are down about 6 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 16 points.
Source: ISASP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
66.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
66.9%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-0.4pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 67% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 67% typical for Iowa schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Iowa's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
468
-20 (-4%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
14.1:1
was 16.1:1
% White
82%
was 84%
% Hispanic
13%
was 7%
% Black
1%
was 2%
% Asian
1%
was 2%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About Cherokee Elementary School
Located at 204 E. Indian Street, in Cherokee, Iowa, Cherokee Elementary School is a mid-tier elementary school that teaches 468 students (grades pre-K through 4), operated by Cherokee Comm School District. By comparison, Iowa's public schools average about 325 students each, so Cherokee Elementary School sits 44% bigger than that benchmark.
Cherokee Comm School District comprises 3 schools with combined enrollment of 1,163 students; Cherokee Elementary School is among them.
On the student-mix side, Cherokee Elementary School records that nearly all students (82%) are White. The remainder is composed of 13% Hispanic, 2% multiracial.
Looking at school resources, On paper, Cherokee Elementary School has 33 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 14.1:1. That tracks the state average closely. About 50% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is higher than Cherokee County's rate of about 41%.
On a demographically-adjusted basis, Cherokee Elementary School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 66.9%; this one delivers 66.6%.
In the area at large, Cherokee County reports that median household earnings sit near $71,269, roughly 23% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 6%. Across Cherokee County's 8 public schools (combined enrollment of about 2,048 students), Cherokee Elementary School is one campus in the mix.
Nearest neighbor: Cherokee Middle School, around 0.0 miles off. 2 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Cherokee Elementary School comes 7th of 7 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 77.7%.
The school occupies a small-town site.
Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count declined 4%: 488 students in 2018 compared to 468 in 2025. The Hispanic share of enrollment increased from 7% to 13% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 16.1:1 in 2018 to 14.1:1 today.
On the community side, members of the Cherokee Elementary School community share and discuss school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Cherokee County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
11,600
Census ACS
Median income
$71,269
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
23%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
8
2,048 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Cherokee Comm School District
- Washington High SchoolHigh · 366 students
- Cherokee Middle SchoolMiddle · 329 students
Other schools in Cherokee
- Washington High SchoolHigh · 366 students
- Cherokee Middle SchoolMiddle · 329 students
Nearby schools
- Cherokee Middle School0.0 mi · 329
- Washington High School0.7 mi · 366
- Alta-Aurelia Middle School7.1 mi · 228
- Aurelia Elementary School7.1 mi · 124
- MMCRU Marcus Elementary13.3 mi · 166
- MMCRU High School13.4 mi · 213
Frequently asked questions
About Cherokee Elementary SchoolHow large is Cherokee Elementary School?
Cherokee Elementary School enrolls approximately 468 students in grades PK-04.
What grades does Cherokee Elementary School serve?
Cherokee Elementary School serves grades PK-04.
How many teachers does Cherokee Elementary School have?
Cherokee Elementary School employs 33 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 14.1:1.
What is the student diversity at Cherokee Elementary School?
Student demographics at Cherokee Elementary School are roughly 82% White, 13% Hispanic, 1% Black, 1% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Is Cherokee Elementary School public or private?
Cherokee Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Cherokee Comm School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.