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How has Lowell Elementary School changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
538
Elementary
DISTRICT 454 · STATE 325
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WATERLOO COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 193048001731
Lowell Elementary School
1628 Washington St, Waterloo, IA 50702 · (319) 433-1900 · Black Hawk County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL538 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
12.8:1
42 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.2:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
78%
419 students
DISTRICT 73% · 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 | 146 | 27% |
| Kindergarten | 86 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 75 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 68 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 51 | 9% |
| Grade 4 | 48 | 9% |
| Grade 5 | 64 | 12% |
This year's kindergarten class (86) is 34% larger than its 5th grade class (64).
Student demographics
78%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
52.1%
IA avg 73.6% . -4.0pp since 2023
Math
57.7%
IA avg 70.9% . +9.7pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 52 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 58 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 4 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 10 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 52.1% | 57.7% |
| 2023-24 | 56.1% | 48.0% |
% 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
51.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
53.0%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-2.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 51% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 53% 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 Lowell Elementary School
Lowell Elementary School's state test result (51.0% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lowell Elementary School this school | 538 | 77.9% | 51.0% |
| Brubaker Elementary School Des Moines | 622 | 83.3% | 38.9% |
| Park Ave Elementary School Des Moines | 380 | 82.6% | 40.9% |
| Fred Becker Elementary School Waterloo | 501 | 78.0% | 53.5% |
| Kittrell Elementary School Waterloo | 576 | 71.5% | 61.5% |
| Hillside Elementary School West Des Moines | 548 | 71.7% | 61.7% |
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 Lowell Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Black Hawk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 51.0% | #500 of 564 | #19 of 21 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 57.7% | #486 of 564 ▲ 41 | #20 of 21 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 52.1% | #503 of 564 ▼ 39 | #18 of 21 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 538 | #80 of 705 | #5 of 21 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.8:1 | #184 of 561 | #10 of 21 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 77.9% | #2 of 561 | #1 of 21 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 77.9% | #49 of 666 | #6 of 21 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +74.7% | #3 of 168 | N/A |
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
538
+248 (+86%) vs 2020
+35% since 1990-91, when it was 399
Student : Teacher
12.8:1
was 13.2:1
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 | 538 | 42.2 | 12.8:1 | 78% (419) |
| 2023-24 | 480 | 39.2 | 12.2:1 | 77% (371) |
| 2022-23 | 513 | 42.3 | 12.1:1 | 74% (378) |
| 2020-21 | 290 | 22 | 13.2:1 | 92% (266) |
| 2017-18 | 308 | 22.2 | 13.9:1 | 67% (206) |
| 2015-16 | 352 | 29 | 12.1:1 | 89% (314) |
| 2010-11 | 377 | 28 | 13.5:1 | 88% (332) |
| 2000-01 | 330 | 18 | 18.3:1 | 81% (268) |
| 1990-91 | 399 | 18 | 22.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Lowell Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 75% (308 to 538); teachers up 90% (22.2 to 42.2).
About Lowell Elementary School
Lowell Elementary School is a large elementary school in Waterloo, Iowa, one of the schools in Waterloo Comm School District. The school reports 538 students in pre-K through 5. The school's enrollment is 66% larger than the 325 average for elementary schools in Iowa.
Waterloo Comm School District oversees Lowell Elementary School and 17 other schools, with 10,484 students in total.
Federal enrollment data show White students as the largest group at Lowell Elementary School, at 27%. The rest of enrollment is 27% Black, 24% Hispanic, 12% multiracial, and 6% Pacific Islander. Among all residents of Black Hawk County, the White share is about 80%. The school's diversity index is 78%, meaning two students picked at random have a 78% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
Federal records show a student-to-teacher ratio of 12.8:1 at Lowell Elementary School, with 42.2 full-time-equivalent teachers. On average, elementary schools in Iowa have 13.7:1, compared with 12.8:1 here. The count of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch equals 78% of enrollment. On average, public schools in Black Hawk County report 52%.
A school with Lowell Elementary School's lunch-eligibility share in Iowa is predicted to score 53.0%. Lowell Elementary School scores 51.0%, 2.0 points below that line.
Across Black Hawk County, the median household income is $66,417, about 30% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 9%. In all, Black Hawk County has 35 public schools and roughly 18,224 students.
The school nearest to Lowell Elementary School is Irving Elementary School, at a distance of about 0.8 miles. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. On state test proficiency, Lowell Elementary School ranks 5th in a group of 8 nearby schools.
For locale, NCES codes Lowell Elementary School as City: Small.
Lowell Elementary School had 290 students in 2020-21 and 538 in 2024-25, according to federal records. Those counts may cover different grade spans.
Posts about science fairs, picture day, and bus routes are welcome on this page. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Black Hawk County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
131,049
Census ACS
Median income
$66,417
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
30%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
35
18,224 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Waterloo Comm School District
- West High SchoolHigh · 1,696 students
- East High SchoolHigh · 1,016 students
- Hoover Middle SchoolMiddle · 848 students
- Kittrell Elementary SchoolElementary · 576 students
- Expo Alternative Learning CenterHigh · 561 students
- Orange Elementary SchoolElementary · 518 students
Other schools in Waterloo
- West High SchoolHigh · 1,696 students
- East High SchoolHigh · 1,016 students
- Hoover Middle SchoolMiddle · 848 students
- Kittrell Elementary SchoolElementary · 576 students
- Expo Alternative Learning CenterHigh · 561 students
- Orange Elementary SchoolElementary · 518 students
Other Lowell Elementary schools
24 other US public schools in 15 states are named Lowell Elementary. Lowell Elementary School is the 2nd largest of the 25.
- Lowell ElementaryLong Beach, CA · 609 students
- Lowell ElementaryEverett, WA · 531 students
- Lowell Elementary SchoolIndianapolis, IN · 466 students
- LOWELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLLOWELL, AR · 451 students
- Lowell Elementary SchoolMESA, AZ · 441 students
Nearby schools
- Irving Elementary School0.8 mi · 353
- Kittrell Elementary School0.9 mi · 576
- East High School1.2 mi · 1,016
- West High School1.4 mi · 1,696
- Highland Elementary School1.5 mi · 448
- Expo Alternative Learning Center1.6 mi · 561
Frequently asked questions
About Lowell Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Lowell Elementary School?
Lowell Elementary School enrolls approximately 538 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Lowell Elementary School serve?
Lowell Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at Lowell Elementary School?
Approximately 12.8:1 students per teacher at Lowell Elementary School.
How diverse is Lowell Elementary School?
Lowell Elementary School reports a student body of 27% White, 24% Hispanic, 27% Black, 4% Asian, 12% Two or more.
Who oversees Lowell Elementary School?
Lowell Elementary School is overseen by Waterloo Comm School District in Black Hawk County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.