Meredith Middle School

As a sizable junior high in Des Moines, Iowa, Meredith Middle School teaches 662 students from grades 6 through 8, run under Des Moines Independent Comm School District. Compared to the state average of about 400 students per school, that is 66% above typical.

Des Moines Independent Comm School District comprises 59 schools with combined enrollment of 29,676 students; Meredith Middle School is among them.

On demographics, Meredith Middle School reports that the largest single group is Black at 30%, but no single group is in the majority. The remainder breaks down as 23% White, 22% Hispanic, 16% Asian, 8% multiracial. That is meaningfully more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 7%.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 40 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 16.4:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 15.2:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Roughly 80% of students at Meredith Middle School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. That share is noticeably above Polk County's rate of about 49%.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Meredith Middle School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 52.0%, the actual is 51.6%, a residual of -0.4 points.

In the broader community, 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), Meredith Middle School is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Hoover High School, roughly 0.1 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Meredith Middle School comes 4th of 8 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 54.1%.

Geographically, the school is in an urban area.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Meredith Middle School has contracted 18%, going from 805 students in 2018 to 662 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio grew from 15.0:1 in 2018 to 16.4:1 today.

On the community side, recent activity here tends to focus on science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.