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Which teacher or staff member at Stilwell Junior High School deserves more recognition?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
645
Middle
DISTRICT 653 · STATE 400
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WEST DES MOINES COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 193093001796
Stilwell Junior High School
1601 Vine St, West Des Moines, IA 50265 · (515) 633-6000 · Polk County
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL645 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 49% of Iowa public middle schools
- C+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B+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
13.4:1
48 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.1:1 · STATE 15.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
47%
303 students
DISTRICT 55% · 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 7 | 309 | 48% |
| Grade 8 | 336 | 52% |
Student demographics
60%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 65% · 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
77.2%
IA avg 73.6% . -0.9pp since 2023
Math
73.4%
IA avg 70.9% . -0.7pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 77 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 73 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Iowa schools, those numbers are about 74 and 71. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2023, while math scores have held steady.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 77.2% | 73.4% |
| 2023-24 | 78.1% | 74.1% |
% 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
73.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
68.5%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+4.8pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 73% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 68% 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 Stilwell Junior High School
Stilwell Junior High School's state test result (73.2% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stilwell Junior High School this school | 645 | 47.0% | 73.2% |
| Merrill Middle School Des Moines | 657 | 43.7% | 72.2% |
| Harding Middle School Cedar Rapids | 710 | 43.8% | 75.8% |
| Liberty Intermediate School Ottumwa | 633 | 48.5% | 50.2% |
| Taft Middle School Cedar Rapids | 593 | 46.5% | 71.0% |
| Urbandale Middle School Urbandale | 892 | 41.4% | 72.4% |
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 Stilwell Junior High School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 73.2% | #138 of 224 | #8 of 21 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 73.4% | #132 of 224 ▼ 11 | #9 of 21 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 77.2% | #121 of 224 ▲ 5 | #8 of 21 ▲ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 645 | #44 of 246 | #11 of 21 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.4:1 | #53 of 180 | #3 of 21 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 59.5% | #35 of 180 | #12 of 21 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 47.0% | #82 of 237 | #12 of 21 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -8.5% | #72 of 103 | #10 of 14 |
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
645
-53 (-8%) vs 2020
+9% since 1990-91, when it was 590
Student : Teacher
13.4:1
was 15.2:1
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 | 645 | 48 | 13.4:1 | 47% (303) |
| 2023-24 | 644 | 47.8 | 13.5:1 | 29% (187) |
| 2022-23 | 684 | 47.7 | 14.3:1 | 36% (247) |
| 2020-21 | 698 | 46 | 15.2:1 | 34% (240) |
| 2017-18 | 705 | 47.8 | 14.7:1 | 33% (231) |
| 2015-16 | 724 | 50 | 14.5:1 | 27% (192) |
| 2010-11 | 734 | 48 | 15.3:1 | 25% (180) |
| 2000-01 | 668 | 44 | 15.2:1 | 13% (85) |
| 1990-91 | 590 | 34 | 17.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Stilwell Junior High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 9% (705 to 645); teachers unchanged (47.8 to 48).
About Stilwell Junior High School
Stilwell Junior High School is a high-enrollment middle-grades school based in West Des Moines, Iowa. The school counts 645 students across grades 7 through 8. The school's enrollment is 61% bigger than the 400 average for middle schools in Iowa.
West Des Moines Comm School District has 9,009 students in 13 schools, and Stilwell Junior High School is one of those schools.
At 60%, White students outnumber all other groups at Stilwell Junior High School combined. The remaining students are 16% Hispanic, 12% Black, 7% multiracial, and 4% Asian. Among people living in Polk County, the White share is about 76%. By the diversity index, Stilwell Junior High School comes in at 60%.
Stilwell Junior High School's 48 full-time-equivalent teachers put its ratio at 13.4:1. For comparison, middle schools in Iowa average 15.2:1. Eligibility for subsidized school meals is 47%. Across public schools in Polk County, the average is about the same, 49%.
Stilwell Junior High School is graded B- by allk12, scoring above 49% of Iowa public middle schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
Stilwell Junior High School is 4.8 points above its predicted average proficiency rate on state tests (73.2% versus 68.5%), which places it in neither the top nor the bottom 10% in Iowa.
Recent Census Bureau figures for Polk County show that median household income is about $83,576, roughly 40% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Federal data list 137 public schools in Polk County, with a combined enrollment of about 77,436.
Fairmeadows Elementary School is located about 0.6 miles from Stilwell Junior High School. Other public schools within five miles: at least 8. Stilwell Junior High School comes in 2nd of 8 nearby schools on average proficiency.
Locale: City: Small. In NCES terms, the school is inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
The student count in 2024-25 was 645, 8% below the 698 of 2020-21. From 2020-21 to 2024-25, the ratio fell from 15.2:1 to 13.4:1.
The Stilwell Junior High School community page is open for posts about school events, clubs, and volunteer needs. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
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 West Des Moines Comm School District
- Valley High SchoolHigh · 2,178 students
- Westridge ElementaryElementary · 744 students
- Valley SouthwoodsHigh · 678 students
- Indian Hills Junior High SchoolMiddle · 661 students
- Jordan Creek Elementary SchoolElementary · 652 students
- Western Hills Elementary SchoolElementary · 570 students
Other schools in West Des Moines
- Valley High SchoolHigh · 2,178 students
- Westridge ElementaryElementary · 744 students
- Valley SouthwoodsHigh · 678 students
- Jordan Creek Elementary SchoolElementary · 652 students
- Brookview Elementary SchoolElementary · 592 students
- Woodland Hills Elementary SchoolElementary · 578 students
Nearby schools
- Fairmeadows Elementary School0.6 mi · 542
- Hillside Elementary School0.7 mi · 548
- Walnut Creek Campus0.8 mi · 152
- Hanawalt Elementary1.6 mi · 312
- Valley High School1.7 mi · 2,178
- Western Hills Elementary School1.7 mi · 570
Frequently asked questions
About Stilwell Junior High SchoolHow many students attend Stilwell Junior High School?
Stilwell Junior High School enrolls approximately 645 students in grades 07-08.
What age range does Stilwell Junior High School serve?
Stilwell Junior High School serves students from grade 07 through grade 08.
How many teachers does Stilwell Junior High School have?
Stilwell Junior High School employs 48 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.4:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Stilwell Junior High School?
At Stilwell Junior High School, the student body is approximately 60% White, 16% Hispanic, 12% Black, 4% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Who oversees Stilwell Junior High School?
Stilwell Junior High School is overseen by West Des Moines Comm School District in Polk County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.