Downtown School

As a cozy primary school in Des Moines, Iowa, Downtown School teaches 197 students from grades K through 5, overseen by Des Moines Independent Comm School District. Compared to the state average of about 325 students per school, that is 39% smaller than typical.

Across the 59 schools in Des Moines Independent Comm School District (29,676 students total), Downtown School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

In terms of who attends, Downtown School records that White students make up the majority at 68%. The remainder breaks down as 13% Hispanic, 10% multiracial, 8% Black. The wider county runs roughly 76% White, putting the school's mix meaningfully less White than the area baseline.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Downtown School has 15 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 13.4:1. That tracks the state average closely. Roughly 21% of students at Downtown School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against Polk County (around 49%), the school's rate is meaningfully below typical.

After controlling for student poverty, Downtown School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 81.3%, the actual is 78.3%, a residual of -3.0 points.

Across the wider county, the surrounding county (Polk County) records that the typical household earns roughly $83,576 per year, roughly 40% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. In all, Polk County runs 137 public schools (combined enrollment of about 77,436 students), of which Downtown School is one.

Nearest neighbor: Virtual Campus, around 0.0 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Downtown School comes 1st of 7 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 46.6%.

The campus sits in an inner-city setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 27%: 271 students in 2018 compared to 197 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share edged down from 77% to 68%.

Within the allk12 community for this school, members of the Downtown School community share and discuss sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.