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What's the best and worst thing about the food at Southeast Polk Middle School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,112
Middle
DISTRICT 636 · STATE 400
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SOUTHEAST POLK COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 192682002134
Southeast Polk Middle School
501 Falcon Drive, Altoona, IA 50009 · (515) 967-5533 · Polk County
GRADES 06–07MIDDLE41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,112 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 75% of Iowa public middle schools
- B+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A-Beats 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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
15.9:1
70 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.3:1 · STATE 15.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
41%
456 students
DISTRICT 40% · STATE 41%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 563 | 51% |
| Grade 7 | 549 | 49% |
Student demographics
49%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 49% · 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
Students here typically continue to
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Southeast Polk Comm School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ISASP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
79.0%
IA avg 73.6% . -1.2pp since 2023
Math
79.4%
IA avg 70.9% . +2.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 79 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 79 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 1 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 2 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 79.0% | 79.4% |
| 2023-24 | 80.2% | 77.2% |
% 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
79.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
71.4%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+7.6pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 79% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 71% 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 Southeast Polk Middle School
Southeast Polk Middle School's state test result (79.0% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southeast Polk Middle School this school | 1,112 | 41.0% | 79.0% |
| Bettendorf Middle School Bettendorf | 952 | 36.1% | 74.1% |
| Harding Middle School Cedar Rapids | 710 | 43.8% | 75.8% |
| Prairie Creek Cedar Rapids | 846 | 34.2% | 67.5% |
| Gerald W Kirn Middle School Council Bluffs | 913 | 48.5% | 66.3% |
| Eleanor Roosevelt Middle School Dubuque | 1,081 | 33.3% | 77.3% |
Matched among Iowa middle 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 Southeast Polk Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 79.0% | #80 of 224 | #5 of 21 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 79.4% | #78 of 224 ▲ 16 | #6 of 21 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 79.0% | #109 of 224 ▼ 5 | #7 of 21 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,112 | #5 of 246 | #2 of 21 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.9:1 | #147 of 180 | #16 of 21 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 49.5% | #62 of 180 | #16 of 21 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 41.0% | #112 of 237 | #15 of 21 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +92.7% | #1 of 61 | #1 of 6 |
Ranked against other public middle 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
1,112
+608 (+121%) vs 2020
+132% since 2010-11, when it was 479
Student : Teacher
15.9:1
was 15.3:1
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 | 1,112 | 70 | 15.9:1 | 41% (456) |
| 2023-24 | 544 | 33 | 16.5:1 | 38% (205) |
| 2022-23 | 535 | 34 | 15.7:1 | 38% (205) |
| 2020-21 | 504 | 33 | 15.3:1 | 31% (158) |
| 2017-18 | 577 | 33 | 17.5:1 | 33% (188) |
| 2015-16 | 468 | 33 | 14.2:1 | 27% (128) |
| 2010-11 | 479 | 29 | 16.5:1 | 30% (143) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Southeast Polk Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students up 93% (577 to 1,112); teachers up 112% (33 to 70).
About Southeast Polk Middle School
Southeast Polk Middle School is a public high-enrollment middle school in Altoona, Iowa. Enrolled students number 1,112 students, in grades 6 through 7. Enrollment is 178% higher than the average for middle schools in Iowa, which is about 400.
Southeast Polk Comm School District has a total of 10 schools and 6,359 students, Southeast Polk Middle School among them.
White students make up a majority at Southeast Polk Middle School, at 69%. The next largest groups are 12% Hispanic, 8% Black, 7% multiracial, and 3% Asian. 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.
The school reported 70 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25 and a ratio of 15.9:1. The school has more students per teacher than the 15.2:1 average for middle schools in Iowa. Eligible students account for 41% of enrollment in the free or reduced-price lunch program. Across public schools in Polk County, the average is 49%.
allk12 grades Southeast Polk Middle School an A-. The grade compares the school only with Iowa public middle schools, because each state gives its own test.
The BeatsExpectations prediction for Southeast Polk Middle School is 71.4%, and its average proficiency rate on state tests is 79.0%.
In the county around the school, Polk County, the median household income is $83,576, about 40% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 7%. Polk County is home to 137 public schools and about 77,436 public school students.
Centennial Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.7 miles away. The five-mile area around Southeast Polk Middle School holds at least 8 other public schools. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts Southeast Polk Middle School at 2nd of 8.
Southeast Polk Middle School is in rural territory close to an urban area, a location NCES labels Rural: Fringe.
Reported enrollment: 504 (2020-21) and 1,112 (2024-25). These figures may describe different sets of grades.
Parents and students can post about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater at Southeast Polk Middle School. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
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 Southeast Polk Comm School District
- Southeast Polk High SchoolHigh · 1,722 students
- Clay ElementaryElementary · 700 students
- Willowbrook ElementaryElementary · 523 students
- Four Mile ElementaryElementary · 495 students
- Delaware ElementaryElementary · 440 students
- Altoona ElementaryElementary · 429 students
Other schools in Altoona
- Clay ElementaryElementary · 700 students
- Willowbrook ElementaryElementary · 523 students
- Altoona ElementaryElementary · 429 students
- Centennial ElementaryElementary · 423 students
Nearby schools
- Centennial Elementary0.7 mi · 423
- Altoona Elementary1.1 mi · 429
- Willowbrook Elementary2.0 mi · 523
- Clay Elementary2.0 mi · 700
- Morris Elementary3.4 mi · 601
- Southeast Polk High School3.4 mi · 1,722
Frequently asked questions
About Southeast Polk Middle SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Southeast Polk Middle School?
Southeast Polk Middle School enrolls approximately 1,112 students in grades 06-07.
What age range does Southeast Polk Middle School serve?
Southeast Polk Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 07.
How many students per teacher at Southeast Polk Middle School?
Approximately 15.9:1 students per teacher at Southeast Polk Middle School.
What is the student diversity at Southeast Polk Middle School?
Student demographics at Southeast Polk Middle School are roughly 69% White, 12% Hispanic, 8% Black, 3% Asian, 7% Two or more.
What district is Southeast Polk Middle School in?
Southeast Polk Middle School is part of Southeast Polk Comm School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.