Enrollment
263
Elementary
DISTRICT 347 · STATE 325
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DES MOINES INDEPENDENT COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 190897000571
Phillips Elementary
1701 Lay St, Des Moines, IA 50317 · (515) 242-8431 · Polk County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL263 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
11.0:1
24 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.3:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
79%
208 students
DISTRICT 76% · STATE 41%
Community
0
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 49 | 19% |
| Grade 1 | 36 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 47 | 18% |
| Grade 3 | 56 | 21% |
| Grade 4 | 35 | 13% |
| Grade 5 | 40 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (49) is 23% larger than its 5th grade class (40).
Student demographics
63%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
45.4%
IA avg 73.6% . -1.6pp since 2023
Math
56.3%
IA avg 70.9% . +2.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 45 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 56 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 2 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 2 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 45.4% | 56.3% |
| 2023-24 | 47.0% | 53.9% |
% 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
46.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
52.4%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-5.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 47% 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 Phillips Elementary
Phillips Elementary's state test result (46.9% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phillips Elementary this school | 263 | 79.1% | 46.9% |
| Wright Elementary School Des Moines | 265 | 77.7% | 48.5% |
| Riverside Elementary School Sioux City | 227 | 72.7% | 65.1% |
| Franklin Elementary School Marshalltown | 358 | 73.7% | 69.7% |
| Unity Elementary School Sioux City | 483 | 80.3% | 49.3% |
| Pleasant Hill Elementary School Des Moines | 241 | 68.9% | 61.2% |
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 Phillips Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 46.9% | #522 of 564 | #59 of 78 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 56.3% | #493 of 564 ▲ 12 | #50 of 78 ▲ 8 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 45.4% | #531 of 564 ▼ 14 | #64 of 78 ▼ 8 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 263 | #450 of 705 | #76 of 89 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.0:1 | #38 of 561 | #4 of 86 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 63.3% | #111 of 561 | #36 of 86 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 79.1% | #44 of 666 | #26 of 89 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -22.4% | #77 of 359 | #15 of 64 |
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
263
-30 (-10%) vs 2020
-26% since 1990-91, when it was 355
Student : Teacher
11.0:1
was 11.3:1
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 | 263 | 24 | 11.0:1 | 79% (208) |
| 2023-24 | 254 | 23.6 | 10.8:1 | 69% (175) |
| 2022-23 | 258 | 22.5 | 11.5:1 | 81% (209) |
| 2020-21 | 293 | 26 | 11.3:1 | 77% (227) |
| 2017-18 | 339 | 24.5 | 13.8:1 | 62% (211) |
| 2015-16 | 373 | 23 | 16.2:1 | 55% (207) |
| 2010-11 | 399 | 19 | 21.0:1 | 52% (209) |
| 2000-01 | 348 | 21 | 16.6:1 | 26% (91) |
| 1990-91 | 355 | 26 | 13.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Phillips Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 22% (339 to 263); teachers down 2% (24.5 to 24).
About Phillips Elementary
Phillips Elementary is a low-enrollment elementary school in Des Moines, Iowa, under Des Moines Independent Comm School District. It reports enrollment of 263 students in kindergarten through 5.
The 59 schools in Des Moines Independent Comm School District enroll 29,676 students altogether, Phillips Elementary among them.
At Phillips Elementary, White students make up the biggest share, 49%. Enrollment also includes 34% Hispanic, 9% Black, and 5% multiracial. Among people living in Polk County, the White share is about 76%. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 63%.
Its ratio of 11.0:1 is based on 24 full-time-equivalent teachers. Elementary schools in Iowa have an average ratio of 13.7:1. In all, 79% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Public schools in Polk County average 49%.
Phillips Elementary sits between the top and bottom 10% of Iowa schools on BeatsExpectations, with an actual average proficiency rate across its state test results of 46.9% and a predicted 52.4%.
American Community Survey estimates for Polk County show that the median household earns about $83,576 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 40%, and about 7% of people live in poverty. Polk County has 137 public schools with about 77,436 students, including Phillips Elementary.
Garton Elementary is about 0.9 miles away, making it the nearest public school. Other public schools within five miles number at least 8. Compared with its nearest neighbors, Phillips Elementary ranks 2nd of 8 on average proficiency.
Federal data place Phillips Elementary in the City: Mid-size locale, which means it is inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
In 2020-21, Phillips Elementary enrolled 293 students. By 2024-25, that number had fallen to 263.
This page is set up for the Phillips Elementary community to discuss homework, tutoring, and testing dates. Members of the school community can share what they know.
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
Other Phillips Elementary schools
6 other US public schools in 7 states are named Phillips Elementary. Phillips Elementary is the 6th largest of the 7.
- Phillips Elementary SchoolFRISCO, TX · 607 students
- Phillips ElementaryHampton, VA · 435 students
- Phillips Elementary SchoolHarrisburg, PA · 393 students
- Phillips ElementaryNapa, CA · 373 students
- Phillips ElementaryPhillips, WI · 302 students
Nearby schools
- Garton Elementary0.9 mi · 535
- Stowe Elementary School1.1 mi · 297
- Goodrell Middle School1.3 mi · 511
- Willard Elementary School1.4 mi · 247
- Hiatt Middle School1.5 mi · 488
- Capitol View Elementary School1.5 mi · 533
Frequently asked questions
About Phillips ElementaryHow large is Phillips Elementary?
Phillips Elementary enrolls approximately 263 students in grades KG-05.
What grades does Phillips Elementary serve?
Phillips Elementary serves grades KG-05.
How many students per teacher at Phillips Elementary?
Approximately 11.0:1 students per teacher at Phillips Elementary.
How diverse is Phillips Elementary?
Phillips Elementary reports a student body of 49% White, 34% Hispanic, 9% Black, 2% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Is Phillips Elementary public or private?
Phillips Elementary 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.