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Best kept secret on campus at Southdale Elementary School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
539
Elementary
DISTRICT 457 · STATE 325
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CEDAR FALLS COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 190651000230
Southdale Elementary School
627 Orchard Dr, Cedar Falls, IA 50613 · (319) 553-2900 · Black Hawk County
GRADES PK–06ELEMENTARY13-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL539 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
13.9:1
39 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.3:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
22%
119 students
DISTRICT 27% · STATE 41%
Community
4
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 74 | 14% |
| Kindergarten | 61 | 11% |
| Grade 1 | 78 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 53 | 10% |
| Grade 3 | 69 | 13% |
| Grade 4 | 63 | 12% |
| Grade 5 | 72 | 13% |
| Grade 6 | 69 | 13% |
Student demographics
35%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 33% · 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
86.2%
IA avg 73.6% . +2.7pp since 2023
Math
82.8%
IA avg 70.9% . +2.3pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 86 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 83 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 2 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 86.2% | 82.8% |
| 2023-24 | 83.5% | 80.5% |
% 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
81.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
80.9%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+0.5pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 81% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 81% 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 →
Where Southdale Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Black Hawk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 81.4% | #110 of 564 | #4 of 21 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 82.8% | #161 of 564 | #8 of 21 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 86.2% | #52 of 564 | #3 of 21 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 539 | #77 of 705 | #4 of 21 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.9:1 | #336 of 561 | #18 of 21 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 35.3% | #306 of 561 | #16 of 21 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -28.6% | #36 of 359 | #2 of 13 |
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.
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
539
-216 (-29%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
13.9:1
was 16.1:1
% White
80%
was 85%
% Hispanic
3%
was 2%
% Black
4%
was 3%
% Asian
6%
was 5%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free or reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 539 | 38.8 | 13.9:1 | 22% (119) |
| 2023-24 | 562 | 37.8 | 14.8:1 | 24% (135) |
| 2022-23 | 530 | 39.9 | 13.3:1 | 23% (122) |
| 2017-18 | 755 | 46.8 | 16.1:1 | 12% (94) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Southdale Elementary School.
About Southdale Elementary School
Southdale Elementary School is a high-enrollment elementary school in Iowa, with an address in Cedar Falls. The school counts 539 students across pre-K through 6. The school's enrollment is 66% larger than the 325 average for elementary schools in Iowa.
Southdale Elementary School belongs to Cedar Falls Comm School District, a district of 10 schools and 5,853 students.
White students are the majority at Southdale Elementary School, with 80% of enrollment. After that, the student body is 6% Asian, 6% multiracial, 4% Black, and 3% Hispanic. That is close to the 80% White share among all Black Hawk County residents. Pick two students at random and there is a 35% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Southdale Elementary School operates with 38.8 full-time-equivalent teachers, a ratio of about 13.9:1. That matches the 13.7:1 average for elementary schools in Iowa fairly closely. About 22% of students at the school meet free or reduced-price lunch income limits. That is 30 points below the 52% average for public schools in Black Hawk County.
On the allk12 BeatsExpectations measure, Southdale Elementary School is within a point of the average proficiency rate on state tests predicted for its free or reduced-price lunch share: 81.4% actual, 80.9% predicted. That is outside both the top and bottom 10% in Iowa.
Recent Census Bureau figures for Black Hawk County show that the median household income is $66,417, roughly 30% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 9%. Southdale Elementary School is one of 35 public schools in the county.
The next-closest public school is Peet Junior High School, about 0.7 miles away. Southdale Elementary School is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. Southdale Elementary School's average proficiency of 81.4% compares with 77.4% for its nearest scored neighbors.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is City: Small: inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
Enrollment declined 29% from its 2017-18 level of 755. The student mix also changed: the White share fell from 85% to 80%. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 16.1:1 in 2017-18 to 13.9:1 in 2024-25.
Parents and students can post about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater at Southdale Elementary School. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Black Hawk County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
131,049
Census ACS
Median income
$66,417
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
30%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
35
18,224 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Cedar Falls Comm School District
- Cedar Falls High SchoolHigh · 1,333 students
- Peet Junior High SchoolMiddle · 695 students
- Holmes Junior High SchoolMiddle · 628 students
- Helen A Hansen Elementary SchoolElementary · 569 students
- Bess Streeter Aldrich ElementaryElementary · 472 students
- Orchard Hill Elementary SchoolElementary · 458 students
Other schools in Cedar Falls
- Cedar Falls High SchoolHigh · 1,333 students
- Peet Junior High SchoolMiddle · 695 students
- Holmes Junior High SchoolMiddle · 628 students
- Helen A Hansen Elementary SchoolElementary · 569 students
- Bess Streeter Aldrich ElementaryElementary · 472 students
- Orchard Hill Elementary SchoolElementary · 458 students
Nearby schools
- Peet Junior High School0.7 mi · 695
- Orchard Hill Elementary School0.9 mi · 458
- Cedar Heights Elementary School1.4 mi · 451
- Lincoln Elementary School1.9 mi · 416
- Bess Streeter Aldrich Elementary2.1 mi · 472
- Central Middle School2.1 mi · 469
Frequently asked questions
About Southdale Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Southdale Elementary School?
Southdale Elementary School enrolls approximately 539 students in grades PK-06.
Is Southdale Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Southdale Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-06.
How many students per teacher at Southdale Elementary School?
Approximately 13.9:1 students per teacher at Southdale Elementary School.
How diverse is Southdale Elementary School?
Southdale Elementary School reports a student body of 80% White, 3% Hispanic, 4% Black, 6% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Who oversees Southdale Elementary School?
Southdale Elementary School is overseen by Cedar Falls Comm School District in Black Hawk County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.