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Parents: what's one thing you'd want the Roosevelt High School administration to hear?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
2,051
High
DISTRICT 1,512 · STATE 468
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DES MOINES INDEPENDENT COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 190897000574
Roosevelt High School
4419 Center St, Des Moines, IA 50312 · (515) 242-7272 · Polk County
GRADES 09–12HIGH12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL2,051 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 17% of Iowa public high schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- CBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Iowa public high schools
Student : Teacher
31.3:1
66 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 24.0:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
55%
1,133 students
DISTRICT 76% · STATE 41%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 500 | 24% |
| Grade 10 | 498 | 24% |
| Grade 11 | 496 | 24% |
| Grade 12 | 557 | 27% |
Student demographics
71%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
66.8%
IA avg 73.6% . +3.3pp since 2023
Math
59.4%
IA avg 70.9% . +3.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 67 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 59 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 3 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 4 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 66.8% | 59.4% |
| 2023-24 | 63.5% | 55.9% |
% 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
59.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
64.3%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-4.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 60% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 64% 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 Roosevelt High School
Roosevelt High School's state test result (59.5% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roosevelt High School this school | 2,051 | 55.2% | 59.5% |
| North High School Davenport | 1,190 | 51.9% | 47.5% |
| Thomas Jefferson High School Cedar Rapids | 1,501 | 60.5% | 51.9% |
| George Washington High School Cedar Rapids | 1,182 | 54.7% | 60.2% |
| Central High School Davenport | 1,288 | 49.2% | 51.1% |
| West High School Waterloo | 1,696 | 59.1% | 60.9% |
Matched among Iowa high 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 Roosevelt High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 59.5% | #281 of 313 | #13 of 18 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 59.4% | #262 of 314 ▲ 13 | #13 of 18 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 66.8% | #270 of 314 ▲ 15 | #13 of 18 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 2,051 | #4 of 340 | #3 of 20 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 31.3:1 | #259 of 259 | #18 of 18 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 70.8% | #6 of 260 | #4 of 18 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 55.2% | #27 of 320 | #7 of 19 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +5.6% | #98 of 133 | #11 of 13 |
Ranked against other public high 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
2,051
-35 (-2%) vs 2020
+61% since 1990-91, when it was 1,275
Student : Teacher
31.3:1
was 29.8:1
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 | 2,051 | 65.6 | 31.3:1 | 55% (1,133) |
| 2023-24 | 2,039 | 66.8 | 30.5:1 | 48% (977) |
| 2022-23 | 1,986 | 66.3 | 29.9:1 | 53% (1,053) |
| 2020-21 | 2,086 | 70 | 29.8:1 | 56% (1,160) |
| 2017-18 | 1,943 | 79.6 | 24.4:1 | 50% (979) |
| 2015-16 | 1,793 | 86 | 20.9:1 | 53% (944) |
| 2010-11 | 1,636 | 73 | 22.4:1 | 42% (680) |
| 2000-01 | 1,587 | 84 | 18.9:1 | 25% (404) |
| 1990-91 | 1,275 | 98 | 13.0:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Roosevelt High School.
Since 2017-18: students up 6% (1,943 to 2,051); teachers down 18% (79.6 to 65.6).
About Roosevelt High School
Roosevelt High School is a high school located in Des Moines, Iowa, in Polk County. Federal data show 2,051 students enrolled in grades 9 through 12 in 2024-25. Across high schools in Iowa, the average enrollment is about 468.
Roosevelt High School is among 59 schools run by Des Moines Independent Comm School District, which serves 29,676 students.
Of every 100 students at Roosevelt High School, about 41 are White, the largest group. It is also 27% Black, 18% Hispanic, 9% multiracial, and 3% Asian. For comparison, the population of Polk County is roughly 76% White. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 71%.
Teacher count: 65.6 full-time equivalents. Student-to-teacher ratio: 31.3:1. Compared with the 17.3:1 average for high schools in Iowa, this school's ratio is higher. Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch, often used to gauge student poverty, is 55%.
Roosevelt High School holds a C- allk12 Grade, placing it above 17% of Iowa public high schools.
Schools in Iowa with a similar free or reduced-price lunch share are predicted to score about 64.3%. Roosevelt High School scores 59.5%.
In the wider Polk County area, median household income comes to about $83,576, 40% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Polk County counts 137 public schools with about 77,436 students.
Hubbell Elementary is about 0.2 miles away, making it the nearest public school. There are at least 8 more public schools inside five miles. Roosevelt High School's average proficiency of 59.5% compares with 63.2% for its nearest scored neighbors.
NCES describes the area around Roosevelt High School as City: Mid-size, meaning inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, enrollment moved from 2,086 to 2,051, a small change. The number of students per teacher increased from 29.8 to 31.3 over 4 years.
This page is set up for the Roosevelt High School community to discuss special education services, counseling, and support programs. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
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
- East High SchoolHigh · 1,952 students
- North High SchoolHigh · 1,428 students
- Hoover High SchoolHigh · 898 students
- Weeks Middle SchoolMiddle · 688 students
- McCombs Middle SchoolMiddle · 670 students
Other schools in Des Moines
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 2,364 students
- East High SchoolHigh · 1,952 students
- North High SchoolHigh · 1,428 students
- Hoover High SchoolHigh · 898 students
- Weeks Middle SchoolMiddle · 688 students
- McCombs Middle SchoolMiddle · 670 students
Other Roosevelt High schools
14 other US public schools in 14 states are named Roosevelt High. Roosevelt High School is the 3rd largest of the 15.
- Roosevelt High SchoolSAN ANTONIO, TX · 2,431 students
- Roosevelt HighFresno, CA · 2,175 students
- Roosevelt High School - 03Sioux Falls, SD · 1,785 students
- Roosevelt High SchoolSEATTLE, WA · 1,542 students
- Roosevelt High SchoolPortland, OR · 1,450 students
Nearby schools
- Hubbell Elementary0.2 mi · 362
- Merrill Middle School0.8 mi · 657
- Greenwood Elementary School0.9 mi · 293
- Callanan Middle School1.0 mi · 553
- Perkins Elementary School1.1 mi · 438
- Ruby Van Meter1.2 mi · 109
Frequently asked questions
About Roosevelt High SchoolHow large is Roosevelt High School?
Roosevelt High School enrolls approximately 2,051 students in grades 09-12.
Is Roosevelt High School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Roosevelt High School is a high school covering grades 09-12.
How many teachers does Roosevelt High School have?
Roosevelt High School employs 66 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 31.3:1.
What is the student diversity at Roosevelt High School?
Student demographics at Roosevelt High School are roughly 41% White, 18% Hispanic, 27% Black, 3% Asian, 9% Two or more.
What district is Roosevelt High School in?
Roosevelt High School is part of Des Moines Independent Comm School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.