Park Ave Elementary School

Park Ave Elementary School is a reasonably sized elementary-level community in Des Moines, Iowa, operated by Des Moines Independent Comm School District. The school educates 380 students in grades K through 5.

Park Ave Elementary School is one of 59 schools operated by Des Moines Independent Comm School District, a district that works with 29,676 students overall.

Looking at the student body, Park Ave Elementary School shows that the largest single group is White at 39%, but no single group is in the majority. The remainder breaks down as 28% Hispanic, 22% Black, 5% multiracial, 4% Asian. By comparison, Polk County as a whole is about 76% White, so the school skews noticeably less White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 29 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 13.2:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. Around 83% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Polk County runs at roughly 49%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat above the surrounding baseline.

After controlling for student poverty, Park Ave Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 50.6%, the actual is 40.9%, a residual of -9.8 points.

In the broader community, Polk County reports that median household earnings sit near $83,576, roughly 40% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. Across Polk County's 137 public schools (combined enrollment of about 77,436 students), Park Ave Elementary School is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Lincoln High School, roughly 0.4 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Park Ave Elementary School. On composite proficiency, Park Ave Elementary School comes 9th of 9 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 48.8%.

The campus sits in an inner-city setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Park Ave Elementary School's enrollment has contracted 12% since 2018, when it stood at 431 (now 380). White enrollment moved from 48% to 39% across the same window.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the feed for Park Ave Elementary School typically covers sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.