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Which teacher or staff member at Saydel High School deserves more recognition?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
458
High
DISTRICT 470 · STATE 468
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SAYDEL COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 192532001447
Saydel High School
5601 NE 7th St, Des Moines, IA 50313 · (515) 262-9325 · Polk County
GRADES 09–12HIGH21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL458 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 2% of Iowa public high schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
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
16.6:1
28 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.1:1 · STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
53%
242 students
DISTRICT 42% · STATE 41%
Community
5
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 | 99 | 22% |
| Grade 10 | 120 | 26% |
| Grade 11 | 136 | 30% |
| Grade 12 | 103 | 22% |
Student demographics
49%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 48% · 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
School pathway
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Saydel Comm School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ISASP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
55.3%
IA avg 73.6% . +3.3pp since 2023
Math
45.4%
IA avg 70.9% . -4.3pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 55 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 45 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 down about 4 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 55.3% | 45.4% |
| 2023-24 | 52.0% | 49.7% |
% Proficient, all students and all tested grades.
Source: ISASP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of IA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
48.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
65.5%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-16.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 49% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 66% typical for Iowa schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Saydel High School
Saydel High School's state test result (48.9% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saydel High School this school | 458 | 52.8% | 48.9% |
| Lenox High School Lenox | 219 | 54.8% | 77.3% |
| Belmond-Klemme Community Jr-Sr High School Belmond | 297 | 51.9% | 68.4% |
| Estherville Lincoln Central High School Estherville | 359 | 47.1% | 62.2% |
| Pocahontas Area Middle/ High School Pocahontas | 367 | 53.7% | 70.5% |
| Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn High School Hartley | 203 | 50.2% | 71.7% |
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 Saydel High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 48.9% | #302 of 313 | #14 of 18 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 45.4% | #304 of 314 ▼ 8 | #14 of 18 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 55.3% | #304 of 314 ▲ 1 | #14 of 18 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 458 | #106 of 340 | #18 of 20 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.6:1 | #210 of 259 | #6 of 18 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 48.7% | #51 of 260 | #11 of 18 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 52.8% | #39 of 320 | #8 of 19 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +10.4% | #71 of 133 | #7 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
458
+27 (+6%) vs 2020
+18% since 1990-91, when it was 387
Student : Teacher
16.6:1
was 14.4:1
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 | 458 | 27.5 | 16.6:1 | 53% (242) |
| 2023-24 | 440 | 29.2 | 15.1:1 | 58% (257) |
| 2022-23 | 451 | 33.3 | 13.6:1 | 61% (273) |
| 2020-21 | 431 | 30 | 14.4:1 | 60% (258) |
| 2017-18 | 415 | 29.6 | 14.0:1 | 46% (189) |
| 2015-16 | 430 | 32 | 13.4:1 | 44% (188) |
| 2010-11 | 417 | 34 | 12.3:1 | 48% (199) |
| 2000-01 | 441 | 39 | 11.3:1 | 22% (95) |
| 1990-91 | 387 | 28 | 13.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Saydel High School.
Since 2017-18: students up 10% (415 to 458); teachers down 7% (29.6 to 27.5).
About Saydel High School
Saydel High School is a high school in Des Moines, Iowa, according to federal school records. Enrolled students number 458 students, in grades 9 through 12.
Saydel Comm School District oversees Saydel High School and 2 other schools, with 1,409 students in total.
White students are the majority at Saydel High School, with 68% of enrollment. After that, the student body is 20% Hispanic and 9% multiracial. Pick two students at random and there is a 49% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Saydel High School's 27.5 full-time-equivalent teachers put its ratio at 16.6:1. That matches the 17.3:1 average for high schools in Iowa fairly closely. Eligibility for subsidized school meals is 53%.
Measured against Iowa public high schools, Saydel High School receives an F. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
A school in Iowa with Saydel High School's free or reduced-price lunch share would be expected to score about 65.5%. Saydel High School scores 48.9%.
Census Bureau estimates for Polk County show that the median household income is $83,576, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 40% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 7%. There are 137 public schools in Polk County, enrolling about 77,436 students in all.
The nearest public school is Woodside Middle School, at about 0.4 miles. Inside a five-mile radius, there are at least 8 other public schools. The nearest schools with test data average 46.5%, lower than Saydel High School's 48.9%.
NCES lists the school's locale as Suburb: Large. That means it sits in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
2024-25 enrollment was 458, a 6% gain from 431 in 2020-21. By 2024-25, the school had 16.6 students per teacher, compared with 14.4 in 2020-21.
If you have questions about school safety, transportation, and start times at Saydel High School, you can post them here. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
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 Saydel Comm School District
- Cornell Elementary SchoolElementary · 555 students
- Woodside Middle SchoolMiddle · 396 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
- Woodside Middle School0.4 mi · 396
- Cornell Elementary School0.5 mi · 555
- Madison Elementary School2.0 mi · 285
- Oak Park2.2 mi · 288
- Great Oaks High School and Career Center2.3 mi · 72
- Harding Middle School2.4 mi · 603
Frequently asked questions
About Saydel High SchoolHow many students attend Saydel High School?
Saydel High School enrolls approximately 458 students in grades 09-12.
Is Saydel High School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Saydel High School is a high school covering grades 09-12.
How many students per teacher at Saydel High School?
Approximately 16.6:1 students per teacher at Saydel High School.
How diverse is Saydel High School?
Saydel High School reports a student body of 68% White, 20% Hispanic, 2% Black, 0% Asian, 9% Two or more.
Who oversees Saydel High School?
Saydel High School is overseen by Saydel Comm School District in Polk County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.