Cowles Elementary School

Set in Des Moines, Iowa, Cowles Elementary School is a mid-sized elementary-level community, one of the schools within Des Moines Independent Comm School District. It serves 392 students across grades pre-K through 8. Compared to the state average of about 325 students per school, that is 21% above typical.

Cowles Elementary School is one of 59 schools operated by Des Moines Independent Comm School District, a district that works with 29,676 students overall.

On demographics, Cowles Elementary School lists that 79% of the student body identifies as White; the rest reads as 9% multiracial, 8% Hispanic, 3% Asian. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 23 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 16.7:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 13.7:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. An estimated 20% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. Set against Polk County (around 49%), the school's rate is somewhat below typical.

With demographic context factored in, Cowles Elementary School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 81.9% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 82.6%.

In the broader community, community-level numbers for Polk County indicate the typical household earns roughly $83,576 per year, 40% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 7%. In all, Polk County runs 137 public schools (combined enrollment of about 77,436 students), of which Cowles Elementary School is one.

Windsor Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.6 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Cowles Elementary School. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Cowles Elementary School ranks 1st on composite proficiency, ahead of the local average of 59.9%.

The campus sits in an outer-ring setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Cowles Elementary School has changed only slightly, going from 397 students in 2018 to 392 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, posts here usually surface around school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Members of the school community can share what they know.