Enrollment
392
Elementary
DISTRICT 347 · STATE 325
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DES MOINES INDEPENDENT COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 190897002011
Cowles Elementary School
6401 College Ave, Des Moines, IA 50324 · (515) 242-7818 · Polk County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL392 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 73% of Iowa public elementary schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B-Beats 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
16.7:1
23 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.3:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
20%
79 students
DISTRICT 76% · STATE 41%
Community
0
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 | 84 | 21% |
| Kindergarten | 40 | 10% |
| Grade 1 | 35 | 9% |
| Grade 2 | 38 | 10% |
| Grade 3 | 39 | 10% |
| Grade 4 | 33 | 8% |
| Grade 5 | 31 | 8% |
| Grade 6 | 28 | 7% |
| Grade 7 | 32 | 8% |
| Grade 8 | 32 | 8% |
This year's kindergarten class (40) is 25% larger than its 8th grade class (32).
Student demographics
36%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 74% · 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
Test scores
ISASP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
87.9%
IA avg 73.6% . +4.7pp since 2023
Math
84.2%
IA avg 70.9% . +8.6pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 88 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 84 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 5 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 9 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 87.9% | 84.2% |
| 2023-24 | 83.2% | 75.6% |
% Proficient, all students and all tested grades.
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
82.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
81.9%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+0.8pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 83% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 82% 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 →
Schools most like Cowles Elementary School
Cowles Elementary School's state test result (82.6% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cowles Elementary School this school | 392 | 20.2% | 82.6% |
| Crocker Elementary School Ankeny | 489 | 21.5% | 80.1% |
| Paul Norton Elementary School Bettendorf | 403 | 16.9% | 86.0% |
| Hoover Elementary School West Branch | 353 | 19.8% | 68.8% |
| Bridgeview Elementary School LeClaire | 343 | 17.8% | 88.3% |
| Cody Elementary School LeClaire | 443 | 13.8% | 88.8% |
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 Cowles Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 82.6% | #83 of 564 | #9 of 78 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 84.2% | #141 of 564 ▲ 150 | #15 of 78 ▲ 14 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 87.9% | #39 of 564 ▲ 22 | #4 of 78 ▲ 5 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 392 | #233 of 705 | #53 of 89 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.7:1 | #531 of 561 | #79 of 86 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 36.4% | #290 of 561 | #74 of 86 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 20.2% | #593 of 666 | #76 of 89 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -1.3% | #345 of 359 | #63 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
392
0 (0%) vs 2020
+172% since 1990-91, when it was 144
Student : Teacher
16.7:1
was 17.8:1
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 | 392 | 23.5 | 16.7:1 | 20% (79) |
| 2023-24 | 403 | 22.9 | 17.6:1 | 16% (64) |
| 2022-23 | 391 | 21.9 | 17.9:1 | 17% (66) |
| 2020-21 | 392 | 22 | 17.8:1 | 17% (65) |
| 2017-18 | 397 | 22.8 | 17.4:1 | 18% (71) |
| 2015-16 | 402 | 23 | 17.5:1 | 25% (99) |
| 2010-11 | 345 | 17 | 20.3:1 | 17% (59) |
| 2000-01 | 106 | 18 | 5.9:1 | 36% (38) |
| 1990-91 | 144 | 22 | 6.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Cowles Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 1% (397 to 392); teachers up 3% (22.8 to 23.5).
About Cowles Elementary School
Cowles Elementary School is a mid-sized elementary school in Des Moines, Iowa. Federal data show 392 students enrolled in pre-K through 8 in 2024-25. Elementary schools in Iowa average about 325 students, which makes this school 21% larger than average.
The 59 schools of Des Moines Independent Comm School District, including Cowles Elementary School, enroll 29,676 students.
At Cowles Elementary School, 79% of students are White. It is also 9% multiracial, 8% Hispanic, and 3% Asian. Census estimates put Polk County at about 76% White, close to the school's figure. The diversity index for Cowles Elementary School is 36%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
There are about 16.7 students for every full-time-equivalent teacher at Cowles Elementary School, which has 23.5. The school's 16.7:1 compares with an average of 13.7:1 for elementary schools in Iowa. Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch stands at 20%. The gap from the 49% average for public schools in Polk County is 29 points.
Cowles Elementary School earns a B+ on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 73% of Iowa public elementary schools.
Based on student poverty, the model expects 81.9% at Cowles Elementary School; the school's average proficiency rate across its state test results is 82.6%.
In Polk County, home to about 503,175 people, 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%. Cowles Elementary School shares Polk County with 136 other public schools.
Cowles Elementary School's nearest public school is Windsor Elementary (about 0.6 miles). In all, at least 8 other public schools sit within five miles of Cowles Elementary School. By average proficiency, Cowles Elementary School is 1st among 8 schools close by.
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.
Enrollment in 2024-25 was 392, close to the 392 recorded in 2020-21. The number of students per teacher dropped from 17.8 to 16.7 over 4 years.
The discussion board for Cowles Elementary School is open to topics like pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
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 Des Moines Independent Comm School District
- 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 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
Nearby schools
- Windsor Elementary0.6 mi · 254
- Clive Learning Academy0.7 mi · 551
- Hillis Elementary School0.8 mi · 279
- Horizon Science Academy Des Moines1.2 mi · 150
- Crestview School of Inquiry1.4 mi · 558
- Perkins Elementary School1.5 mi · 438
Frequently asked questions
About Cowles Elementary SchoolHow large is Cowles Elementary School?
Cowles Elementary School enrolls approximately 392 students in grades PK-08.
What age range does Cowles Elementary School serve?
Cowles Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Cowles Elementary School?
Approximately 16.7:1 students per teacher at Cowles Elementary School.
How diverse is Cowles Elementary School?
Cowles Elementary School reports a student body of 79% White, 8% Hispanic, 1% Black, 3% Asian, 9% Two or more.
Is Cowles Elementary School public or private?
Cowles Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Des Moines Independent Comm School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.