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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Horizon Elementary?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
613
Elementary
DISTRICT 648 · STATE 325
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·JOHNSTON COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 191545000653
Horizon Elementary
5905 N W 100th Street, Johnston, IA 50131 · (515) 986-1121 · Polk County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL613 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
13.9:1
44 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.2:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
36%
220 students
DISTRICT 26% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 81 | 13% |
| Grade 1 | 87 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 113 | 18% |
| Grade 3 | 123 | 20% |
| Grade 4 | 109 | 18% |
| Grade 5 | 100 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (81) is 19% smaller than its 5th grade class (100).
Student demographics
63%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 56% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Based on grade levels within Johnston Comm School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ISASP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
75.2%
IA avg 73.6% . -3.1pp since 2023
Math
73.9%
IA avg 70.9% . -3.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 75 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 74 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Iowa schools, those numbers are about 74 and 71. Reading and writing scores are down about 3 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 4 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 75.2% | 73.9% |
| 2023-24 | 78.3% | 77.4% |
% 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
74.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
74.0%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+0.0pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 74% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 74% 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 Horizon Elementary
Horizon Elementary's state test result (74.0% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horizon Elementary this school | 613 | 35.9% | 74.0% |
| Maple Grove Elementary School West Des Moines | 577 | 33.8% | 75.0% |
| Valerius Elementary School Urbandale | 598 | 43.3% | 77.5% |
| Edwards Elementary School Ames | 436 | 44.5% | 71.5% |
| Grant Ragan Elementary School Waukee | 666 | 28.2% | 78.7% |
| Jordan Creek Elementary School West Des Moines | 652 | 33.4% | 82.2% |
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 Horizon Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 74.0% | #259 of 564 | #28 of 78 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 73.9% | #319 of 564 ▼ 66 | #33 of 78 ▼ 7 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 75.2% | #238 of 564 ▼ 94 | #33 of 78 ▼ 13 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 613 | #31 of 705 | #9 of 89 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.9:1 | #335 of 561 | #44 of 86 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 62.7% | #116 of 561 | #38 of 86 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 35.9% | #422 of 666 | #60 of 89 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -10.4% | #220 of 359 | #40 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
613
-28 (-4%) vs 2020
-12% since 2010-11, when it was 699
Student : Teacher
13.9:1
was 15.3:1
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 | 613 | 44.2 | 13.9:1 | 36% (220) |
| 2023-24 | 673 | 46.1 | 14.6:1 | 40% (271) |
| 2022-23 | 647 | 43.9 | 14.8:1 | 36% (232) |
| 2020-21 | 641 | 42 | 15.3:1 | 24% (154) |
| 2017-18 | 684 | 41.8 | 16.4:1 | 32% (221) |
| 2015-16 | 657 | 40 | 16.4:1 | 17% (111) |
| 2010-11 | 699 | 38 | 18.4:1 | 13% (94) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Horizon Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 10% (684 to 613); teachers up 6% (41.8 to 44.2).
About Horizon Elementary
Horizon Elementary is an elementary school located in Johnston, Iowa, in Polk County. It is open to students in kindergarten through 5 and enrolls 613 students. By comparison, elementary schools in Iowa enroll about 325 students on average.
Horizon Elementary is one of 8 schools in Johnston Comm School District, which enrolls 7,339 students in total.
More than half of enrollment at Horizon Elementary is White: 57%. Enrollment also includes 16% Black, 12% Hispanic, 10% Asian, and 6% multiracial. The school's White share is 19 points below the 76% share among Polk County residents. The diversity index for Horizon Elementary is 63%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
Horizon Elementary lists 44.2 full-time-equivalent teachers; that is about 13.9 students per teacher. The ratio is within a point of the 13.7:1 average for elementary schools in Iowa. Free or reduced-price lunch covers 36% of the student body. That is 13 points below the 49% average for public schools in Polk County.
After adjusting for student poverty, Horizon Elementary lands between the top and bottom 10% of Iowa schools. Its average proficiency rate across its state test results is 74.0%; the prediction is 74.0%.
Census data for Polk County show the median household earns about $83,576 a year, roughly 40% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 7%. Public schools in Polk County number 137, with about 77,436 students.
Horizon Elementary's closest public school neighbor is Summit Middle School, about 0.2 miles away. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. Horizon Elementary's average proficiency of 74.0% compares with 79.3% for its nearest scored neighbors.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is Suburb: Large: in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment was 613 in 2024-25. In 2020-21, it was 641. The ratio of students to teachers went from 15.3:1 to 13.9:1 over the same years.
You can use this page to share news and ask questions about fundraisers, report cards, and school supplies. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
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 Johnston Comm School District
- Johnston Senior High SchoolHigh · 1,820 students
- Johnston Middle SchoolHigh · 1,161 students
- Summit Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,118 students
- Henry A Wallace Elementary SchoolElementary · 840 students
- Timber Ridge ElementaryElementary · 667 students
- Beaver Creek Elementary SchoolElementary · 575 students
Other schools in Johnston
- Johnston Senior High SchoolHigh · 1,820 students
- Johnston Middle SchoolHigh · 1,161 students
- Summit Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,118 students
- Henry A Wallace Elementary SchoolElementary · 840 students
- Timber Ridge ElementaryElementary · 667 students
- Beaver Creek Elementary SchoolElementary · 575 students
Other Horizon Elementary schools
19 other US public schools in 15 states are named Horizon Elementary. Horizon Elementary is the 4th largest of the 20.
- Horizon ElementaryBakersfield, CA · 845 students
- Horizon Elementary SchoolGranger, IN · 679 students
- HORIZON ELEMENTARY SCHOOLPORT ORANGE, FL · 618 students
- Horizon Elementary SchoolMadison, AL · 567 students
- Horizon ElementaryEverett, WA · 550 students
Nearby schools
- Summit Middle School0.2 mi · 1,118
- Johnston Senior High School0.8 mi · 1,820
- Beaver Creek Elementary School1.3 mi · 575
- Timber Ridge Elementary2.0 mi · 667
- South Prairie Elementary2.5 mi · 436
- Urbandale Middle School2.5 mi · 892
Frequently asked questions
About Horizon ElementaryHow large is Horizon Elementary?
Horizon Elementary enrolls approximately 613 students in grades KG-05.
Is Horizon Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Horizon Elementary is an elementary school covering grades KG-05.
How many students per teacher at Horizon Elementary?
Approximately 13.9:1 students per teacher at Horizon Elementary.
What is the student diversity at Horizon Elementary?
Student demographics at Horizon Elementary are roughly 57% White, 12% Hispanic, 16% Black, 10% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Is Horizon Elementary public or private?
Horizon Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Johnston Comm School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.