Cornell Elementary School

Set in Des Moines, Iowa, Cornell Elementary School is a roomy K-5 school, overseen by Saydel Comm School District. It educates 555 students across grades pre-K through 4. That puts it 71% bigger than the typical public school in Iowa, which averages around 325 students.

Saydel Comm School District runs 3 schools in total, collectively educating 1,409 students. Cornell Elementary School is one of those campuses.

Looking at the student body, Cornell Elementary School shows that 70% of the student body identifies as White; the rest reads as 21% Hispanic, 6% multiracial, 2% Black.

On the income-and-resources front, The school lists 39 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 14.3:1. That tracks the state average closely. Around 15% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against Polk County (around 49%), the school's rate is noticeably below typical.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, On a poverty-adjusted basis, Cornell Elementary School sits in the bottom 10% statewide. Predicted proficiency from the FRL regression is roughly 84.2%; actual is 70.9%, a gap of -13.3 points.

Zooming out to the county, Polk County reports that median household earnings sit near $83,576, roughly 40% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Polk County's 137 public schools (combined enrollment of about 77,436 students), Cornell Elementary School is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Saydel High School, roughly 0.5 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Cornell Elementary School comes 2nd of 9 in the immediate cluster, above the nearby-schools average of 48.3%.

The school occupies an outer-ring site.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Cornell Elementary School has increased 5%, going from 531 students in 2018 to 555 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share climbed from 13% to 21%.

Within the allk12 community for this school, members of the Cornell Elementary School community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.