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What's the best and worst thing about the food at Jackson Elementary School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
490
Elementary
DISTRICT 347 · STATE 325
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DES MOINES INDEPENDENT COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 190897000547
Jackson Elementary School
3825 Indianola Ave, Des Moines, IA 50315 · (515) 242-8415 · Polk County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL490 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
14.9:1
33 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.3:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
81%
395 students
DISTRICT 76% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 60 | 12% |
| Kindergarten | 74 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 70 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 69 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 69 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 75 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 73 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (74) is about the same size as its 5th grade class (73).
Student demographics
73%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
54.6%
IA avg 73.6% . +8.1pp since 2023
Math
51.9%
IA avg 70.9% . -2.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 55 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 52 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 8 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 3 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 54.6% | 51.9% |
| 2023-24 | 46.5% | 54.4% |
% 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
48.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
51.6%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-3.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 48% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 52% 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 Jackson Elementary School
Jackson Elementary School's state test result (48.1% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jackson Elementary School this school | 490 | 80.6% | 48.1% |
| South Union Elementary School Des Moines | 422 | 84.8% | 46.6% |
| Garton Elementary Des Moines | 535 | 89.3% | 43.5% |
| Lovejoy Elementary School Des Moines | 394 | 89.3% | 39.3% |
| Cattell Elementary School Des Moines | 314 | 86.3% | 51.8% |
| Findley Elementary School Des Moines | 324 | 85.2% | 43.9% |
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 Jackson Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 48.1% | #513 of 564 | #56 of 78 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 51.9% | #506 of 564 ▼ 3 | #52 of 78 ▲ 5 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 54.6% | #484 of 564 ▲ 33 | #51 of 78 ▲ 6 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 490 | #109 of 705 | #37 of 89 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.9:1 | #447 of 561 | #64 of 86 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 72.9% | #21 of 561 | #12 of 86 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 80.6% | #39 of 666 | #24 of 89 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +14.8% | #62 of 168 | #4 of 16 |
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
490
+103 (+27%) vs 2020
+34% since 1990-91, when it was 365
Student : Teacher
14.9:1
was 12.5:1
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 | 490 | 32.8 | 14.9:1 | 81% (395) |
| 2023-24 | 495 | 33.3 | 14.9:1 | 73% (359) |
| 2022-23 | 406 | 28.5 | 14.3:1 | 81% (327) |
| 2020-21 | 387 | 31 | 12.5:1 | 81% (313) |
| 2017-18 | 427 | 33.1 | 12.9:1 | 78% (332) |
| 2015-16 | 429 | 31 | 13.8:1 | 80% (345) |
| 2010-11 | 403 | 29 | 13.9:1 | 79% (319) |
| 2000-01 | 365 | 26 | 14.0:1 | 51% (187) |
| 1990-91 | 365 | 23 | 15.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Jackson Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 15% (427 to 490); teachers down 1% (33.1 to 32.8).
About Jackson Elementary School
At 3825 Indianola Ave in Des Moines, Iowa, Jackson Elementary School operates as a large elementary school. Enrolled students number 490 students, in pre-K through 5. Enrollment is 51% higher than the average for elementary schools in Iowa, which is about 325.
Jackson Elementary School is part of a district of 59 schools: Des Moines Independent Comm School District, with 29,676 students.
Jackson Elementary School's enrollment has no majority group, and Hispanic students are the largest at 41%. After that, the student body is 22% Black, 21% White, 11% Asian, and 6% multiracial. Among all residents of Polk County, the Hispanic share is about 10%. By the diversity index, Jackson Elementary School comes in at 73%.
The school reported 32.8 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25 and a ratio of 14.9:1. The 13.7:1 average for elementary schools in Iowa is lower than this school's figure. Eligible students account for 81% of enrollment in the free or reduced-price lunch program. Among public schools in Polk County, the average eligibility rate is 49%.
Jackson Elementary School sits between the top and bottom 10% of Iowa schools on BeatsExpectations, with an actual average proficiency rate on state tests of 48.1% and a predicted 51.6%.
Polk County census figures show that median household income is about $83,576, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 40% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 7%. A total of 137 public schools operate in Polk County, serving about 77,436 students.
The nearest other public school, Weeks Middle School, is about 0.6 miles away. The count of other public schools within five miles is at least 8. On average proficiency, Jackson Elementary School is 1st of 8 nearby schools with test data.
NCES assigns Jackson Elementary School the locale City: Mid-size, meaning inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
The student count in 2024-25 was 490, 27% above the 387 of 2020-21. By 2024-25, the school had 14.9 students per teacher, compared with 12.5 in 2020-21.
To ask about school safety, transportation, and start times, start a discussion on this page. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
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
Other Jackson Elementary schools
41 other US public schools in 20 states are named Jackson Elementary. Jackson Elementary School is the 10th largest of the 42.
- Jackson Elementary SchoolDavenport, IA · 322 students
- Jackson Elementary SchoolLawrenceville, GA · 1,430 students
- Jackson Elementary SchoolPLANO, TX · 705 students
- Jackson ElementarySHAKOPEE, MN · 683 students
- Jackson ElementaryRiverside, CA · 657 students
Nearby schools
- Weeks Middle School0.6 mi · 688
- Howe Elementary0.9 mi · 297
- River Woods Elementary School1.0 mi · 493
- Lovejoy Elementary School1.1 mi · 394
- South Union Elementary School1.2 mi · 422
- Mitchell Early Childhood Center1.7 mi · 292
Frequently asked questions
About Jackson Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Jackson Elementary School?
Jackson Elementary School enrolls approximately 490 students in grades PK-05.
Is Jackson Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Jackson Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many teachers does Jackson Elementary School have?
Jackson Elementary School employs 33 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 14.9:1.
What is the student diversity at Jackson Elementary School?
Student demographics at Jackson Elementary School are roughly 21% White, 41% Hispanic, 22% Black, 11% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Is Jackson Elementary School public or private?
Jackson Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Des Moines Independent Comm School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.