Hoover High School

Hoover High School is one of the heavily attended 9-12 campuss in Des Moines, Iowa, one of the schools within Des Moines Independent Comm School District, with 898 students on its rolls from grades 9 through 12. That puts it 92% larger than the typical public school in Iowa, which averages around 468 students.

Within Des Moines Independent Comm School District, which oversees 59 schools and 29,676 students, Hoover High School is one campus in the system.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Hoover High School records that the most-represented group is Black (37%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Beyond that, the school logs 26% Hispanic, 17% White, 15% Asian, 5% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 7% Black, putting the school's mix considerably more Black than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Hoover High School has 44 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 20.6:1. The state averages around 17.3:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Around 80% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is above Polk County's rate of about 49%.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Hoover High School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 52.0% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 43.6%.

Zooming out to the county, ACS estimates for Polk County put the typical household earns roughly $83,576 per year, about 40% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Polk County's 137 public schools (combined enrollment of about 77,436 students), Hoover High School is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Meredith Middle School, around 0.1 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Hoover High School ranks 8th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 55.2%.

The school occupies an urban site.

Five-year trend. Hoover High School's enrollment has ticked down 19% since 2018, when it stood at 1,106 (now 898). The White share of enrollment contracted from 27% to 17% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio widened from 19.2:1 in 2018 to 20.6:1 today.

On allk12, the feed for Hoover High School typically covers school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.