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Parents: what's one thing you'd want the Hillside Elementary School administration to hear?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
548
Elementary
DISTRICT 587 · STATE 325
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WEST DES MOINES COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 193093001188
Hillside Elementary School
713 8th St, West Des Moines, IA 50265 · (515) 633-6200 · Polk County
GRADES PK–06ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL548 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
11.7:1
47 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.3:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
72%
393 students
DISTRICT 55% · 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 | 30 | 5% |
| Kindergarten | 71 | 13% |
| Grade 1 | 76 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 77 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 67 | 12% |
| Grade 4 | 77 | 14% |
| Grade 5 | 75 | 14% |
| Grade 6 | 75 | 14% |
Student demographics
69%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
68.8%
IA avg 73.6% . +14.5pp since 2023
Math
71.7%
IA avg 70.9% . +9.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 69 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 72 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 15 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 10 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 68.8% | 71.7% |
| 2023-24 | 54.3% | 61.8% |
% 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
61.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
56.1%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+5.6pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 62% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 56% 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 →
Where Hillside Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 61.7% | #445 of 564 | #45 of 78 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 71.7% | #361 of 564 | #37 of 78 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 68.8% | #344 of 564 | #39 of 78 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 548 | #71 of 705 | #23 of 89 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.7:1 | #84 of 561 | #11 of 86 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 69.1% | #56 of 561 | #22 of 86 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -4.0% | #306 of 359 | #54 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.
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
548
-23 (-4%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
11.7:1
was 14.2:1
% White
45%
was 53%
% Hispanic
26%
was 22%
% Black
18%
was 10%
% Asian
2%
was 5%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free or reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 548 | 47 | 11.7:1 | 72% (393) |
| 2023-24 | 581 | 40.3 | 14.4:1 | 46% (268) |
| 2022-23 | 559 | 40.3 | 13.9:1 | 56% (314) |
| 2017-18 | 571 | 40.2 | 14.2:1 | 60% (342) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Hillside Elementary School.
About Hillside Elementary School
Hillside Elementary School is an elementary school located in West Des Moines, Iowa, in Polk County. The school has 548 students in 2024-25 across pre-K through 6. By comparison, elementary schools in Iowa enroll about 325 students on average.
Hillside Elementary School is part of a district of 13 schools: West Des Moines Comm School District, with 9,009 students.
The largest group at Hillside Elementary School is White students, at 45%. It is also 26% Hispanic, 18% Black, 8% multiracial, and 2% Asian. For comparison, the population of Polk County is roughly 76% White. The diversity index for Hillside Elementary School is 69%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
There are 47 full-time-equivalent teachers at Hillside Elementary School, giving a ratio of 11.7:1. Elementary schools in Iowa average 13.7:1, 2.1 more students per teacher than here. A total of 393 students, or 72%, are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. For comparison, public schools in Polk County average 49%.
Hillside Elementary School sits between the top and bottom 10% of Iowa schools on BeatsExpectations, with an actual average proficiency rate across its state test results of 61.7% and a predicted 56.1%.
For the population of Polk County, median household income comes to about $83,576, roughly 40% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Polk County's 137 public schools enroll about 77,436 students and include Hillside Elementary School.
Walnut Creek Campus is about 0.4 miles away, making it the nearest public school. Hillside Elementary School is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. The nearest schools with test data average 68.9%, higher than Hillside Elementary School's 61.7%.
Hillside Elementary School is inside a principal city with a population under 100,000, a location NCES labels City: Small.
By 2024-25, enrollment had dropped to 548, from 571 in 2017-18. White students went from 53% of enrollment in 2017-18 to 45% in 2024-25. The school's ratio dropped from 14.2:1 to 11.7:1 between 2017-18 and 2024-25.
The discussion board for Hillside Elementary School is open to topics like pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
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
Nearby schools
- Walnut Creek Campus0.4 mi · 152
- Stilwell Junior High School0.7 mi · 645
- Hanawalt Elementary1.0 mi · 312
- Merrill Middle School1.2 mi · 657
- Fairmeadows Elementary School1.2 mi · 542
- Windsor Elementary1.5 mi · 254
Frequently asked questions
About Hillside Elementary SchoolHow large is Hillside Elementary School?
Hillside Elementary School enrolls approximately 548 students in grades PK-06.
What age range does Hillside Elementary School serve?
Hillside Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 06.
How many students per teacher at Hillside Elementary School?
Approximately 11.7:1 students per teacher at Hillside Elementary School.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Hillside Elementary School?
At Hillside Elementary School, the student body is approximately 45% White, 26% Hispanic, 18% Black, 2% Asian, 8% Two or more.
Is Hillside Elementary School public or private?
Hillside Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by West Des Moines Comm School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.