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If you had an hour of school board time for Fairmeadows Elementary School, what would you bring up?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
542
Elementary
DISTRICT 587 · STATE 325
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WEST DES MOINES COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 193093001792
Fairmeadows Elementary School
807 23rd St, West Des Moines, IA 50265 · (515) 633-6500 · Polk County
GRADES PK–06ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL542 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 51% of Iowa public elementary schools
- B-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- BBeats 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
15.9:1
34 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.3:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
44%
236 students
DISTRICT 55% · STATE 41%
Community
5
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 | 28 | 5% |
| Kindergarten | 65 | 12% |
| Grade 1 | 72 | 13% |
| Grade 2 | 73 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 78 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 80 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 63 | 12% |
| Grade 6 | 83 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (65) is 22% smaller than its 6th grade class (83).
Student demographics
57%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 65% · 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
76.7%
IA avg 73.6% . -0.5pp since 2023
Math
73.0%
IA avg 70.9% . -4.7pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 77 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 73 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Iowa schools, those numbers are about 74 and 71. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2023, while math scores are down about 5 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 76.7% | 73.0% |
| 2023-24 | 77.2% | 77.7% |
% 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
72.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
70.2%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+2.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 72% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 70% 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 Fairmeadows Elementary School
Fairmeadows Elementary School's state test result (72.3% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fairmeadows Elementary School this school | 542 | 43.5% | 72.3% |
| Delaware Elementary Des Moines | 440 | 45.9% | 77.2% |
| Westridge Elementary West Des Moines | 744 | 39.5% | 80.7% |
| Four Mile Elementary Pleasant Hill | 495 | 37.8% | 77.3% |
| East Elementary School Ankeny | 409 | 46.2% | 70.9% |
| West Burlington Elem School West Burlington | 479 | 40.1% | 67.3% |
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 Fairmeadows Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 72.3% | #293 of 564 | #31 of 78 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 73.0% | #339 of 564 ▼ 86 | #34 of 78 ▼ 10 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 76.7% | #217 of 564 ▼ 51 | #28 of 78 ▼ 5 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 542 | #76 of 705 | #25 of 89 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.9:1 | #504 of 561 | #75 of 86 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 56.9% | #165 of 561 | #52 of 86 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 43.5% | #305 of 666 | #51 of 89 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -4.2% | #302 of 359 | #52 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
542
-23 (-4%) vs 2020
0% since 1990-91, when it was 542
Student : Teacher
15.9:1
was 17.1:1
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 | 542 | 34.1 | 15.9:1 | 44% (236) |
| 2023-24 | 545 | 36.1 | 15.1:1 | 22% (122) |
| 2022-23 | 569 | 32.3 | 17.6:1 | 27% (154) |
| 2020-21 | 565 | 33 | 17.1:1 | 31% (173) |
| 2017-18 | 566 | 35.8 | 15.8:1 | 30% (171) |
| 2015-16 | 566 | 33 | 17.1:1 | 28% (156) |
| 2010-11 | 520 | 30 | 17.3:1 | 25% (130) |
| 2000-01 | 506 | 21 | 24.1:1 | 10% (52) |
| 1990-91 | 542 | 28 | 19.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Fairmeadows Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 4% (566 to 542); teachers down 5% (35.8 to 34.1).
About Fairmeadows Elementary School
Fairmeadows Elementary School is a large elementary school located in West Des Moines, Iowa. Its 542 students are spread across pre-K through 6. The typical figure for elementary schools in Iowa is about 325 students.
West Des Moines Comm School District runs 13 schools with a combined 9,009 students. Fairmeadows Elementary School is one of them.
Roughly 63% of students at Fairmeadows Elementary School are White. Other groups make up 15% Hispanic, 9% Black, 8% multiracial, and 5% Asian. County-wide, 76% of Polk County residents are White. Pick two students at random and there is a 57% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
The count of teachers at Fairmeadows Elementary School is 34.1 full-time equivalents, for a ratio of 15.9:1. That is 2.2 students per teacher above the 13.7:1 average for elementary schools in Iowa. Around 44% of the school's students qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
Fairmeadows Elementary School is graded B- by allk12, scoring above 51% of Iowa public elementary schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
Fairmeadows Elementary School's actual average proficiency rate on state tests (72.3%) and its predicted rate (70.2%) put it outside the top and bottom 10% of Iowa schools.
Polk County has about 503,175 residents, and the median household income is $83,576, 40% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Besides Fairmeadows Elementary School, Polk County has 136 other public schools.
Of nearby public schools, Stilwell Junior High School is the closest, at about 0.6 miles. In all, at least 8 other public schools sit within five miles of Fairmeadows Elementary School. In a group of 8 nearby schools with scores, Fairmeadows Elementary School ranks 5th on average proficiency.
NCES describes the area around Fairmeadows Elementary School as City: Small, meaning inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
Enrollment has fallen by 23 students since 2020-21, to 542. By 2024-25, the school had 15.9 students per teacher, compared with 17.1 in 2020-21.
Topics for discussion here include science fairs, picture day, and bus routes. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
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 West Des Moines Comm School District
- Valley High SchoolHigh · 2,178 students
- Westridge ElementaryElementary · 744 students
- Valley SouthwoodsHigh · 678 students
- Indian Hills Junior High SchoolMiddle · 661 students
- Jordan Creek Elementary SchoolElementary · 652 students
- Stilwell Junior High SchoolMiddle · 645 students
Other schools in West Des Moines
- Valley High SchoolHigh · 2,178 students
- Westridge ElementaryElementary · 744 students
- Valley SouthwoodsHigh · 678 students
- Jordan Creek Elementary SchoolElementary · 652 students
- Stilwell Junior High SchoolMiddle · 645 students
- Brookview Elementary SchoolElementary · 592 students
Other Fairmeadows Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Fairmeadows Elementary. Fairmeadows Elementary School is the largest of the 2.
- Fairmeadows Elementary SchoolDUNCANVILLE, TX · 435 students
Nearby schools
- Stilwell Junior High School0.6 mi · 645
- Valley High School1.1 mi · 2,178
- Walnut Creek Campus1.1 mi · 152
- Western Hills Elementary School1.2 mi · 570
- Hillside Elementary School1.2 mi · 548
- Indian Hills Junior High School1.6 mi · 661
Frequently asked questions
About Fairmeadows Elementary SchoolHow large is Fairmeadows Elementary School?
Fairmeadows Elementary School enrolls approximately 542 students in grades PK-06.
What age range does Fairmeadows Elementary School serve?
Fairmeadows Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 06.
How many students per teacher at Fairmeadows Elementary School?
Approximately 15.9:1 students per teacher at Fairmeadows Elementary School.
How diverse is Fairmeadows Elementary School?
Fairmeadows Elementary School reports a student body of 63% White, 15% Hispanic, 9% Black, 5% Asian, 8% Two or more.
Who oversees Fairmeadows Elementary School?
Fairmeadows Elementary School is overseen by West Des Moines Comm School District in Polk County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.