1
What's the vibe like in the hallways at Delaware Elementary right now?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
440
Elementary
DISTRICT 441 · STATE 325
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SOUTHEAST POLK COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 192682001568
Delaware Elementary
4401 E 46th St, Des Moines, IA 50317 · (515) 262-3197 · Polk County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL440 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
12.1:1
36 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.7:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
46%
202 students
DISTRICT 40% · STATE 41%
Community
4
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 | 38 | 9% |
| Kindergarten | 65 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 63 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 71 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 67 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 65 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 71 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (65) is 8% smaller than its 5th grade class (71).
Student demographics
59%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 49% · 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
Delaware Elementary→Southeast Polk Middle School→Southeast Polk Junior High→Southeast Polk High School
Based on grade levels within Southeast Polk Comm School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ISASP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
80.9%
IA avg 73.6% . +1.8pp since 2023
Math
77.9%
IA avg 70.9% . -1.8pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 81 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 78 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 2 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 2 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 80.9% | 77.9% |
| 2023-24 | 79.1% | 79.7% |
% 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
77.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
69.0%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+8.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 77% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 69% 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 Delaware Elementary
Delaware Elementary's state test result (77.2% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delaware Elementary this school | 440 | 45.9% | 77.2% |
| Fairmeadows Elementary School West Des Moines | 542 | 43.5% | 72.3% |
| Kingsley Elementary School Waterloo | 337 | 49.9% | 75.3% |
| Prairie Crest Elementary Cedar Rapids | 434 | 43.5% | 69.1% |
| East Elementary School Ankeny | 409 | 46.2% | 70.9% |
| Edwards Elementary School Ames | 436 | 44.5% | 71.5% |
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 Delaware Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 77.2% | #190 of 564 | #24 of 78 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 77.9% | #258 of 564 ▼ 48 | #28 of 78 ▼ 7 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 80.9% | #134 of 564 ▼ 10 | #13 of 78 ▲ 5 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 440 | #162 of 705 | #41 of 89 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.1:1 | #132 of 561 | #21 of 86 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 58.8% | #148 of 561 | #48 of 86 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 45.9% | #267 of 666 | #49 of 89 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +5.3% | #115 of 168 | #9 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
440
+58 (+15%) vs 2020
-1% since 1990-91, when it was 446
Student : Teacher
12.1:1
was 11.9:1
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 | 440 | 36.3 | 12.1:1 | 46% (202) |
| 2023-24 | 423 | 35.2 | 12.0:1 | 46% (195) |
| 2022-23 | 398 | 33 | 12.1:1 | 43% (173) |
| 2020-21 | 382 | 32 | 11.9:1 | 39% (148) |
| 2017-18 | 418 | 30.5 | 13.7:1 | 39% (162) |
| 2015-16 | 484 | 31 | 15.6:1 | 36% (174) |
| 2010-11 | 516 | 34 | 15.2:1 | 34% (174) |
| 2000-01 | 309 | 22 | 14.1:1 | 28% (86) |
| 1990-91 | 446 | 20 | 22.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Delaware Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students up 5% (418 to 440); teachers up 19% (30.5 to 36.3).
About Delaware Elementary
In Des Moines, Iowa, part of Polk County, Delaware Elementary is an elementary school. It enrolled 440 students in pre-K through 5 for the 2024-25 school year. Statewide, elementary schools in Iowa average about 325 students each.
Southeast Polk Comm School District counts 10 schools and 6,359 students, including Delaware Elementary.
White students make up a majority at Delaware Elementary, at 61%. The next largest groups are 14% Black, 13% Hispanic, 6% multiracial, and 6% Asian. In Polk County overall, about 76% of residents are White. The school's diversity index is 59%, meaning two students picked at random have a 59% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
The school has about 12.1 students per teacher and 36.3 full-time-equivalent teachers. This ratio sits 1.6 below the 13.7:1 average for elementary schools in Iowa. Federal records put free or reduced-price lunch eligibility at 46%.
On BeatsExpectations, Delaware Elementary is 8.2 points above its prediction, a result in the middle 80% of Iowa schools.
Delaware Elementary is located in Polk County, where the median household income is $83,576, roughly 40% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 7%. Delaware Elementary is one of 137 public schools in the county.
The closest public school, Brubaker Elementary School, is about 1.4 miles from Delaware Elementary. Other public schools within five miles: at least 8. The average proficiency across nearby scored schools is 48.8%; Delaware Elementary's is 77.2%, ranking 1st of 8.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is City: Mid-size: inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
2024-25 enrollment was 440, a 15% increase from 382 in 2020-21.
Parents and students can post about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater at Delaware Elementary. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
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 Southeast Polk Comm School District
- Southeast Polk High SchoolHigh · 1,722 students
- Southeast Polk Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,112 students
- Clay ElementaryElementary · 700 students
- Willowbrook ElementaryElementary · 523 students
- Four Mile ElementaryElementary · 495 students
- Altoona ElementaryElementary · 429 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 Delaware Elementary schools
2 other US public schools in 3 states are named Delaware Elementary. Delaware Elementary is the largest of the 3.
- Delaware Elementary SchoolEvansville, IN · 379 students
- DELAWARE ELEM.SPRINGFIELD, MO · 347 students
Nearby schools
- Brubaker Elementary School1.4 mi · 622
- Hoyt Middle School1.5 mi · 455
- Willowbrook Elementary2.0 mi · 523
- McKee Elementary School2.0 mi · 235
- Goodrell Middle School2.4 mi · 511
- Altoona Elementary2.8 mi · 429
Frequently asked questions
About Delaware ElementaryHow large is Delaware Elementary?
Delaware Elementary enrolls approximately 440 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Delaware Elementary serve?
Delaware Elementary serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at Delaware Elementary?
Approximately 12.1:1 students per teacher at Delaware Elementary.
How diverse is Delaware Elementary?
Delaware Elementary reports a student body of 61% White, 13% Hispanic, 14% Black, 6% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Who oversees Delaware Elementary?
Delaware Elementary is overseen by Southeast Polk Comm School District in Polk County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.