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Which teacher or staff member at Cornell Elementary School deserves more recognition?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
555
Elementary
DISTRICT 470 · STATE 325
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SAYDEL COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 192532001445
Cornell Elementary School
5817 NE 3rd St, Des Moines, IA 50313 · (515) 244-8173 · Polk County
GRADES PK–04ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL555 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
14.3:1
39 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.1:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
15%
86 students
DISTRICT 42% · 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 | 95 | 17% |
| Kindergarten | 109 | 20% |
| Grade 1 | 69 | 12% |
| Grade 2 | 101 | 18% |
| Grade 3 | 90 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 91 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (109) is 20% larger than its 4th grade class (91).
Student demographics
46%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 48% · 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
Based on grade levels within Saydel Comm School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ISASP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
76.5%
IA avg 73.6% . +21.2pp since 2023
Math
80.6%
IA avg 70.9% . +9.1pp 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 are up about 21 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 9 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 76.5% | 80.6% |
| 2023-24 | 55.3% | 71.5% |
% Proficient, all students and all tested grades.
Source: ISASP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of IA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
70.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
84.2%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-13.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 71% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 84% typical for Iowa schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Cornell Elementary School
Cornell Elementary School's state test result (70.9% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 3 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cornell Elementary School this school | 555 | 15.5% | 70.9% |
| Westwood Elementary School Ankeny | 551 | 17.6% | 82.9% |
| Morris Elementary Bondurant | 601 | 13.6% | N/A |
| Oviatt Elementary School Norwalk | 548 | 14.4% | N/A |
| Anderson Elementary School Bondurant | 531 | 22.4% | 77.6% |
| Paul Norton Elementary School Bettendorf | 403 | 16.9% | 86.0% |
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 Cornell Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 70.9% | #314 of 564 | #33 of 78 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 80.6% | #215 of 564 ▲ 145 | #24 of 78 ▲ 14 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 76.5% | #220 of 564 ▲ 239 | #29 of 78 ▲ 19 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 555 | #64 of 705 | #19 of 89 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.3:1 | #388 of 561 | #53 of 86 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 45.6% | #245 of 561 | #68 of 86 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 15.5% | #625 of 666 | #78 of 89 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +4.5% | #123 of 168 | #10 of 16 |
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
555
+60 (+12%) vs 2020
+19% since 1990-91, when it was 466
Student : Teacher
14.3:1
was 12.4:1
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 | 555 | 38.7 | 14.3:1 | 15% (86) |
| 2023-24 | 560 | 37.7 | 14.8:1 | 28% (158) |
| 2022-23 | 527 | 38.9 | 13.6:1 | 42% (221) |
| 2020-21 | 495 | 40 | 12.4:1 | 56% (275) |
| 2017-18 | 531 | 35.5 | 15.0:1 | 44% (234) |
| 2015-16 | 508 | 33 | 15.4:1 | 31% (160) |
| 2010-11 | 404 | 27 | 15.0:1 | 52% (211) |
| 2000-01 | 354 | 24 | 14.8:1 | 37% (130) |
| 1990-91 | 466 | 32 | 14.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Cornell Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 5% (531 to 555); teachers up 9% (35.5 to 38.7).
About Cornell Elementary School
At 5817 NE 3rd St in Des Moines, Iowa, Cornell Elementary School operates as a large elementary school. In all, 555 students attend the school in pre-K through 4. It has 71% more students than the average for elementary schools in Iowa (about 325).
District-wide, Saydel Comm School District has 3 schools and 1,409 students.
The student body at Cornell Elementary School is 70% White. After that, the student body is 21% Hispanic, 6% multiracial, and 2% Black. A diversity index of 46% means there is a 46% chance two randomly chosen students at Cornell Elementary School are from different groups.
The student-to-teacher ratio is 14.3:1. The school has 38.7 full-time-equivalent teachers. The ratio is within a point of the 13.7:1 average for elementary schools in Iowa. Federal data show 15% of students (86) are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That is 34 points below the 49% average for public schools in Polk County.
Given its lunch-eligibility share, the predicted average proficiency rate across its state test results for Cornell Elementary School is 84.2%. It actually posts 70.9%, which is 13.3 points lower and in the bottom 10% of Iowa schools.
Census data for Polk County show the median household earns about $83,576 a year, roughly 40% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 7%. Public schools in Polk County number 137, with about 77,436 students.
Cornell Elementary School's closest public school neighbor is Saydel High School, about 0.5 miles away. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. In a group of 9 nearby schools with scores, Cornell Elementary School ranks 2nd on average proficiency.
Cornell Elementary School is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more, a location NCES labels Suburb: Large.
Enrollment figures show a rise of 60 students from 2020-21 to 2024-25. The ratio was 12.4:1 in 2020-21 and 14.3:1 in 2024-25.
Cornell Elementary School has a community page on allk12 for topics such as pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. You can also rate the school on this page.
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 Saydel Comm School District
- Saydel High SchoolHigh · 458 students
- Woodside Middle SchoolMiddle · 396 students
Other schools in Des Moines
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 2,364 students
- Roosevelt High SchoolHigh · 2,051 students
- East High SchoolHigh · 1,952 students
- North High SchoolHigh · 1,428 students
- Hoover High SchoolHigh · 898 students
- Weeks Middle SchoolMiddle · 688 students
Other Cornell Elementary schools
5 other US public schools in 6 states are named Cornell Elementary. Cornell Elementary School is the 2nd largest of the 6.
- Cornell ElementaryAlbany, CA · 560 students
- Cornell Elementary SchoolOKEMOS, MI · 439 students
- Cornell Elementary SchoolCoraopolis, PA · 289 students
- Cornell ElementaryCornell, WI · 209 students
- Cornell Elementary SchoolCornell, IL · 114 students
Nearby schools
- Saydel High School0.5 mi · 458
- Woodside Middle School0.6 mi · 396
- Madison Elementary School2.3 mi · 285
- Oak Park2.3 mi · 288
- Great Oaks High School and Career Center2.5 mi · 72
- Crocker Elementary School2.6 mi · 489
Frequently asked questions
About Cornell Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Cornell Elementary School?
Cornell Elementary School enrolls approximately 555 students in grades PK-04.
What age range does Cornell Elementary School serve?
Cornell Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 04.
How many teachers does Cornell Elementary School have?
Cornell Elementary School employs 39 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 14.3:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Cornell Elementary School?
At Cornell Elementary School, the student body is approximately 70% White, 21% Hispanic, 2% Black, 0% Asian, 6% Two or more.
What district is Cornell Elementary School in?
Cornell Elementary School is part of Saydel Comm School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.