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How has James Van Allen Elementary School changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
376
Elementary
DISTRICT 333 · STATE 325
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·IOWA CITY COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 191470001034
James Van Allen Elementary School
170 Abigail Ave, North Liberty, IA 52317 · (319) 688-1185 · Johnson County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY22-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL376 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 27% of Iowa public elementary schools
- C+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Iowa public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
14.7:1
26 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.4:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
30%
114 students
DISTRICT 45% · STATE 41%
Community
1
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 | 18 | 5% |
| Kindergarten | 51 | 14% |
| Grade 1 | 53 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 66 | 18% |
| Grade 3 | 62 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 62 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 64 | 17% |
This year's kindergarten class (51) is 20% smaller than its 5th grade class (64).
Student demographics
60%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 66% · 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
75.1%
IA avg 73.6% . +4.7pp since 2023
Math
71.3%
IA avg 70.9% . +2.3pp 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 71 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 5 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 2 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 75.1% | 71.3% |
| 2023-24 | 70.4% | 69.0% |
% 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
70.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
76.8%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-6.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 70% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 77% 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 James Van Allen Elementary School
James Van Allen Elementary School's state test result (70.1% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Van Allen Elementary School this school | 376 | 30.3% | 70.1% |
| Sawyer Elementary School Ames | 371 | 36.1% | 71.1% |
| Mulberry Elementary School Muscatine | 293 | 31.7% | 73.6% |
| Bowman Woods Elementary School Cedar Rapids | 413 | 27.8% | 79.5% |
| East Ridge Elementary Coralville | 442 | 32.4% | 74.4% |
| Grant Ragan Elementary School Waukee | 666 | 28.2% | 78.7% |
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 James Van Allen Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Johnson County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 70.1% | #327 of 564 | #14 of 28 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 71.3% | #366 of 564 ▲ 25 | #13 of 28 ▲ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 75.1% | #240 of 564 ▲ 37 | #12 of 28 ▲ 4 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 376 | #253 of 705 | #10 of 30 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.7:1 | #422 of 561 | #19 of 23 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 59.7% | #140 of 561 | #14 of 23 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 30.3% | #499 of 666 | #22 of 30 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -33.5% | #20 of 359 | #6 of 20 |
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
376
-79 (-17%) vs 2020
-16% since 2010-11, when it was 445
Student : Teacher
14.7:1
was 14.7:1
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 | 376 | 25.6 | 14.7:1 | 30% (114) |
| 2023-24 | 427 | 29.9 | 14.3:1 | 31% (133) |
| 2022-23 | 432 | 26.9 | 16.0:1 | 27% (118) |
| 2020-21 | 455 | 31 | 14.7:1 | 23% (106) |
| 2017-18 | 565 | 29.7 | 19.0:1 | 22% (122) |
| 2015-16 | 576 | 30 | 19.2:1 | 18% (105) |
| 2010-11 | 445 | 26 | 17.1:1 | 22% (98) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for James Van Allen Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 33% (565 to 376); teachers down 14% (29.7 to 25.6).
About James Van Allen Elementary School
James Van Allen Elementary School is classified as an elementary school. It is located in North Liberty, Iowa. Enrollment stands at 376 students, covering pre-K through 5.
Iowa City Comm School District counts 29 schools and 15,111 students, including James Van Allen Elementary School.
More than half of the students at James Van Allen Elementary School are White (60%). Next come 15% Hispanic, 13% Black, 7% Asian, and 5% multiracial. That compares with about 76% White among all Johnson County residents. The diversity index for James Van Allen Elementary School is 60%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
There are 25.6 full-time-equivalent teachers at the school, a ratio of 14.7:1. The gap from the 13.7:1 average for elementary schools in Iowa is 0.9 students per teacher. On the income side, 30% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
On the allk12 Grade, James Van Allen Elementary School lands at C, ahead of 27% of Iowa public elementary schools.
Given its share of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, James Van Allen Elementary School would be expected to post about 76.8%. Its actual average proficiency rate across its state test results is 70.1%.
In the wider Johnson County area, median household income comes to about $74,935, 55% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 7% of people live in poverty. Johnson County's 43 public schools enroll about 20,019 students and include James Van Allen Elementary School.
North Central Middle School sits about 0.3 miles from James Van Allen Elementary School. James Van Allen Elementary School has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. The nearest schools with test data average 77.9%, higher than James Van Allen Elementary School's 70.1%.
James Van Allen Elementary School is coded as Suburb: Mid-size in federal locale data.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, enrollment fell from 455 to 376, a 17% drop.
The allk12 page for James Van Allen Elementary School lets the school community talk about pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. You can also rate the school on this page.
Johnson County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
156,639
Census ACS
Median income
$74,935
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
55%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
43
20,019 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Iowa City Comm School District
- Iowa City High SchoolHigh · 1,666 students
- West Senior High SchoolHigh · 1,514 students
- Liberty High SchoolHigh · 1,286 students
- Southeast Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,269 students
- Northwest Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,113 students
- North Central Middle SchoolMiddle · 925 students
Other schools in North Liberty
- Liberty High SchoolHigh · 1,286 students
- North Central Middle SchoolMiddle · 925 students
- Penn Elementary SchoolElementary · 512 students
- Christine Grant ElementaryElementary · 426 students
- Buford Garner ElementaryElementary · 344 students
- North Bend ElementaryElementary · 326 students
Nearby schools
- North Central Middle School0.3 mi · 925
- Buford Garner Elementary1.1 mi · 344
- Penn Elementary School1.4 mi · 512
- Liberty High School1.5 mi · 1,286
- Wickham Elementary1.8 mi · 315
- East Ridge Elementary2.0 mi · 442
Frequently asked questions
About James Van Allen Elementary SchoolHow large is James Van Allen Elementary School?
James Van Allen Elementary School enrolls approximately 376 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does James Van Allen Elementary School serve?
James Van Allen Elementary School serves grades PK-05.
How many students per teacher at James Van Allen Elementary School?
Approximately 14.7:1 students per teacher at James Van Allen Elementary School.
How diverse is James Van Allen Elementary School?
James Van Allen Elementary School reports a student body of 60% White, 15% Hispanic, 13% Black, 7% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Who oversees James Van Allen Elementary School?
James Van Allen Elementary School is overseen by Iowa City Comm School District in Johnson County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.