1
What's something Goodrell Middle School does better than most schools?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
511
Middle
DISTRICT 593 · STATE 400
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DES MOINES INDEPENDENT COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 190897000535
Goodrell Middle School
3300 E. 29th Street, Des Moines, IA 50317 · (515) 242-8444 · Polk County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL511 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
15.3:1
33 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.7:1 · STATE 15.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
85%
433 students
DISTRICT 76% · STATE 41%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 171 | 33% |
| Grade 7 | 148 | 29% |
| Grade 8 | 192 | 38% |
Student demographics
74%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
44.3%
IA avg 73.6% . -0.1pp since 2023
Math
40.6%
IA avg 70.9% . -3.3pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 44 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 41 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 3 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 44.3% | 40.6% |
| 2023-24 | 44.4% | 43.9% |
% 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
42.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
49.6%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-7.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 42% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 50% 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 Goodrell Middle School
Goodrell Middle School's state test result (42.4% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goodrell Middle School this school | 511 | 84.7% | 42.4% |
| McCombs Middle School Des Moines | 670 | 83.3% | 54.0% |
| Hoyt Middle School Des Moines | 455 | 82.6% | 42.8% |
| Harding Middle School Des Moines | 603 | 88.6% | 39.9% |
| Hiatt Middle School Des Moines | 488 | 93.4% | 36.2% |
| Brody Middle School Des Moines | 641 | 71.3% | 51.3% |
Matched among Iowa middle 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 Goodrell Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 42.4% | #221 of 224 | #19 of 21 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 40.6% | #219 of 224 ▼ 2 | #18 of 21 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 44.3% | #221 of 224 no change | #19 of 21 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 511 | #67 of 246 | #15 of 21 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.3:1 | #125 of 180 | #11 of 21 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 73.9% | #4 of 180 | #3 of 21 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 84.7% | #7 of 237 | #4 of 21 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -10.5% | #62 of 103 | #7 of 14 |
Ranked against other public middle 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
511
-53 (-9%) vs 2020
-32% since 1990-91, when it was 757
Student : Teacher
15.3:1
was 15.2:1
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 | 511 | 33.4 | 15.3:1 | 85% (433) |
| 2023-24 | 493 | 34.7 | 14.2:1 | 74% (366) |
| 2022-23 | 523 | 32.1 | 16.3:1 | 85% (442) |
| 2020-21 | 564 | 37 | 15.2:1 | 83% (467) |
| 2017-18 | 571 | 41.5 | 13.8:1 | 77% (437) |
| 2015-16 | 632 | 38 | 16.6:1 | 74% (470) |
| 2010-11 | 607 | 36 | 16.9:1 | 67% (406) |
| 2000-01 | 661 | 47 | 14.1:1 | 50% (328) |
| 1990-91 | 757 | 44 | 17.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Goodrell Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 11% (571 to 511); teachers down 20% (41.5 to 33.4).
About Goodrell Middle School
Goodrell Middle School sits in Des Moines, Iowa, and is classified as a middle-grades school. Enrollment in 2024-25 was 511 students in grades 6 through 8. The average for middle schools in Iowa is about 400 students, so this school is 28% larger than average.
The district, Des Moines Independent Comm School District, has 29,676 students enrolled across 59 schools.
No single group makes up more than half of enrollment at Goodrell Middle School. The largest is White students, at 33%. The remaining shares are 32% Hispanic, 18% Black, 8% Asian, and 7% multiracial. Census estimates put the White share of Polk County's population at about 76%. Pick two students at random and there is a 74% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
The school has about 15.3 students per teacher and 33.4 full-time-equivalent teachers. For comparison, middle schools in Iowa average 15.2:1. Federal records put free or reduced-price lunch eligibility at 85%. Among public schools in Polk County, the average eligibility rate is 49%.
The school's average proficiency rate on state tests is 42.4%. For its free or reduced-price lunch share, the predicted value is 49.6%.
Census Bureau estimates for Polk County show that the median household income is $83,576, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 40%, and roughly 7% of residents are in poverty. Goodrell Middle School is one of 137 public schools in the county.
Of nearby public schools, Garton Elementary is the closest, at about 0.6 miles. In all, at least 8 other public schools sit within five miles of Goodrell Middle School. On proficiency, Goodrell Middle School is behind the 47.8% nearby average, ranking 6th of 8.
Locale: City: Mid-size. In NCES terms, the school is inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
The school enrolled 511 students in 2024-25, 53 fewer than the 564 it had in 2020-21.
Threads on this page can be about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. 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 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
- Garton Elementary0.6 mi · 535
- Phillips Elementary1.3 mi · 263
- McKee Elementary School1.4 mi · 235
- Stowe Elementary School1.5 mi · 297
- Brubaker Elementary School1.6 mi · 622
- Hoyt Middle School1.6 mi · 455
Frequently asked questions
About Goodrell Middle SchoolHow large is Goodrell Middle School?
Goodrell Middle School enrolls approximately 511 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Goodrell Middle School serve?
Goodrell Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Goodrell Middle School?
Approximately 15.3:1 students per teacher at Goodrell Middle School.
What is the student diversity at Goodrell Middle School?
Student demographics at Goodrell Middle School are roughly 33% White, 32% Hispanic, 18% Black, 8% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Who oversees Goodrell Middle School?
Goodrell Middle School is overseen by Des Moines Independent Comm School District in Polk County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.