Howe Elementary

As a moderately sized elementary school in Des Moines, Iowa, Howe Elementary educates 297 students from grades K through 5, part of Des Moines Independent Comm School District.

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

Looking at the student body, Howe Elementary reports that the largest single group is Hispanic at 44%, but no single group is in the majority. Other groups include 23% White, 21% Black, 7% Asian, 5% multiracial. By comparison, Polk County as a whole is about 10% Hispanic, so the school skews visibly more Hispanic than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 26 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 11.4:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.7:1 average. About 91% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Polk County runs at roughly 49%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat above the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Howe Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 46.5%, the actual is 42.9%, a residual of -3.6 points.

Around the school, census data for Polk County shows the typical household earns roughly $83,576 per year, 40% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 7%. Across Polk County's 137 public schools (combined enrollment of about 77,436 students), Howe Elementary is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Weeks Middle School, roughly 0.3 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Howe Elementary ranks 5th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 44.0%.

Geographically, the school is in a city-core area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Howe Elementary has fell 4%, going from 308 students in 2018 to 297 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share increased from 37% to 44%. Class-load math has narrowed: from 13.7:1 in 2018 to 11.4:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, members of the Howe Elementary community share and discuss enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.