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What's the biggest difference between Meredith Middle School and what you expected?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
662
Middle
DISTRICT 593 · STATE 400
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DES MOINES INDEPENDENT COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 190897000560
Meredith Middle School
4827 Madison Ave, Des Moines, IA 50310 · (515) 242-7250 · Polk County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL662 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
16.4:1
40 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.7:1 · STATE 15.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
80%
528 students
DISTRICT 76% · STATE 41%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 216 | 33% |
| Grade 7 | 205 | 31% |
| Grade 8 | 241 | 36% |
Student demographics
77%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
59.3%
IA avg 73.6% . +6.0pp since 2023
Math
51.2%
IA avg 70.9% . +2.7pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 59 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 51 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 6 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 3 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 59.3% | 51.2% |
| 2023-24 | 53.3% | 48.5% |
% 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
51.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
52.0%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-0.4pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 52% 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 Meredith Middle School
Meredith Middle School's state test result (51.6% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meredith Middle School this school | 662 | 79.8% | 51.6% |
| Harding Middle School Des Moines | 603 | 88.6% | 39.9% |
| Weeks Middle School Des Moines | 688 | 87.4% | 42.8% |
| McCombs Middle School Des Moines | 670 | 83.3% | 54.0% |
| Goodrell Middle School Des Moines | 511 | 84.7% | 42.4% |
| Hoyt Middle School Des Moines | 455 | 82.6% | 42.8% |
Matched among Iowa middle 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 Meredith Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 51.6% | #208 of 224 | #14 of 21 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 51.2% | #206 of 224 ▲ 3 | #14 of 21 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 59.3% | #200 of 224 ▲ 9 | #13 of 21 ▲ 3 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 662 | #39 of 246 | #8 of 21 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.4:1 | #153 of 180 | #17 of 21 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 77.5% | #1 of 180 | #1 of 21 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 79.8% | #11 of 237 | #8 of 21 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -17.8% | #27 of 103 | #4 of 14 |
Ranked against other public middle 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
662
-78 (-11%) vs 2020
-7% since 1990-91, when it was 715
Student : Teacher
16.4:1
was 15.4:1
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 | 662 | 40.3 | 16.4:1 | 80% (528) |
| 2023-24 | 653 | 45.7 | 14.3:1 | 74% (485) |
| 2022-23 | 664 | 47.1 | 14.1:1 | 84% (557) |
| 2020-21 | 740 | 48 | 15.4:1 | 84% (619) |
| 2017-18 | 805 | 53.6 | 15.0:1 | 81% (654) |
| 2015-16 | 737 | 50 | 14.7:1 | 76% (563) |
| 2010-11 | 607 | 39 | 15.6:1 | 69% (420) |
| 2000-01 | 772 | 47 | 16.4:1 | 43% (331) |
| 1990-91 | 715 | 48 | 14.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Meredith Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 18% (805 to 662); teachers down 25% (53.6 to 40.3).
About Meredith Middle School
Meredith Middle School is a large middle school with an address in Des Moines, Iowa. Enrollment is 662 students in 2024-25, and the school serves grades 6 through 8. The average for middle schools in Iowa is about 400 students, so this school is 66% larger than average.
Meredith Middle School is one of 59 schools in Des Moines Independent Comm School District, which enrolls 29,676 students in total.
Black students form the largest group at Meredith Middle School, 30% of enrollment. The remaining shares are 23% White, 22% Hispanic, 16% Asian, and 8% multiracial. Census estimates put the Black share of Polk County's population at about 7%. Meredith Middle School has a diversity index of 77%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
Staffing totals 40.3 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the student-to-teacher ratio is 16.4:1. For comparison, middle schools in Iowa average 15.2:1. A measure often used for student poverty, free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, stands at 80%. That is 31 points above the 49% average for public schools in Polk County.
A school with Meredith Middle School's lunch-eligibility share in Iowa is predicted to score 52.0%. Meredith Middle School scores 51.6%, within a point of that line.
According to the American Community Survey, in Polk County, median household income is about $83,576, roughly 40% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Meredith Middle School is one of 137 public schools in Polk County, which together enroll about 77,436 students.
The closest public school, Hoover High School, is about 0.1 miles from Meredith Middle School. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. On state test proficiency, Meredith Middle School ranks 4th in a group of 8 nearby schools.
In the federal locale system, Meredith Middle School is coded City: Mid-size, for schools inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, Meredith Middle School went from 740 students to 662. The student-to-teacher ratio went up from 15.4:1 to 16.4:1.
Posts about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater are welcome on this page. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
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
Nearby schools
- Hoover High School0.1 mi · 898
- Moore Elementary School0.5 mi · 285
- Samuelson Elementary School0.8 mi · 386
- Woodlawn Early Childhood Center0.9 mi · 216
- Hillis Elementary School1.4 mi · 279
- Horizon Science Academy Des Moines1.5 mi · 150
Frequently asked questions
About Meredith Middle SchoolHow many students attend Meredith Middle School?
Meredith Middle School enrolls approximately 662 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does Meredith Middle School serve?
Meredith Middle School serves grades 06-08.
How many teachers does Meredith Middle School have?
Meredith Middle School employs 40 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.4:1.
What is the student diversity at Meredith Middle School?
Student demographics at Meredith Middle School are roughly 23% White, 22% Hispanic, 30% Black, 16% Asian, 8% Two or more.
Is Meredith Middle School public or private?
Meredith Middle 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.