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If you could change one rule at Urbandale Middle School, what would it be?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
892
Middle
DISTRICT 694 · STATE 400
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·URBANDALE COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 192868001660
Urbandale Middle School
7701 Aurora Avenue, Urbandale, IA 50322 · (515) 457-6600 · Polk County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL892 STUDENTS
C+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 36% 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.
- C+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
15.2:1
59 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.5:1 · STATE 15.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
41%
369 students
DISTRICT 41% · 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 | 294 | 33% |
| Grade 7 | 290 | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 308 | 35% |
Student demographics
56%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 58% · 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
Urbandale Middle School→Urbandale High School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Urbandale Comm School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ISASP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
76.1%
IA avg 73.6% . -2.3pp since 2023
Math
70.0%
IA avg 70.9% . -1.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 76 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 70 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 2 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 2 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 76.1% | 70.0% |
| 2023-24 | 78.4% | 71.9% |
% 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
72.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
71.3%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+1.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 72% 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 Urbandale Middle School
Urbandale Middle School's state test result (72.4% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urbandale Middle School this school | 892 | 41.4% | 72.4% |
| Harding Middle School Cedar Rapids | 710 | 43.8% | 75.8% |
| Ames Middle School Ames | 1,033 | 31.2% | 76.6% |
| Stilwell Junior High School West Des Moines | 645 | 47.0% | 73.2% |
| Southeast Polk Middle School Altoona | 1,112 | 41.0% | 79.0% |
| Indian Hills Junior High School Clive | 661 | 51.9% | 78.2% |
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 Urbandale Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 72.4% | #142 of 224 | #9 of 21 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 70.0% | #161 of 224 ▼ 23 | #11 of 21 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 76.1% | #132 of 224 ▼ 12 | #9 of 21 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 892 | #15 of 246 | #4 of 21 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.2:1 | #120 of 180 | #10 of 21 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 56.0% | #40 of 180 | #13 of 21 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 41.4% | #108 of 237 | #14 of 21 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -4.9% | #83 of 103 | #13 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
892
-38 (-4%) vs 2020
+26% since 1990-91, when it was 708
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
was 16.3:1
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 | 892 | 58.8 | 15.2:1 | 41% (369) |
| 2023-24 | 869 | 57 | 15.2:1 | 37% (322) |
| 2022-23 | 894 | 56.5 | 15.8:1 | 41% (363) |
| 2020-21 | 930 | 57 | 16.3:1 | 10% (96) |
| 2017-18 | 938 | 53.4 | 17.6:1 | 29% (275) |
| 2015-16 | 933 | 55 | 17.0:1 | 26% (241) |
| 2010-11 | 890 | 56 | 15.9:1 | 23% (209) |
| 2000-01 | 783 | 34 | 23.0:1 | 8% (63) |
| 1990-91 | 708 | 39 | 18.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Urbandale Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 5% (938 to 892); teachers up 10% (53.4 to 58.8).
About Urbandale Middle School
Families in Urbandale, Iowa, are served by Urbandale Middle School, a large middle school. It offers grades 6 through 8 and has 892 students enrolled. By comparison, middle schools in Iowa enroll about 400 students on average.
Urbandale Middle School is among 6 schools run by Urbandale Comm School District, which serves 4,165 students.
The student body at Urbandale Middle School is 63% White. It is also 15% Hispanic, 9% Black, 7% Asian, and 6% multiracial. Polk County's residents are about 76% White, 12 points above the school's share. A diversity index of 56% means there is a 56% chance two randomly chosen students at Urbandale Middle School are from different groups.
Classroom staffing at Urbandale Middle School totals 58.8 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the student-to-teacher ratio is 15.2:1. The ratio is within a point of the 15.2:1 average for middle schools in Iowa. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility at Urbandale Middle School is about 41%. For comparison, public schools in Polk County average 49%.
Urbandale Middle School earns a C+ on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 36% of Iowa public middle schools.
On a poverty-adjusted basis, Urbandale Middle School falls in the middle 80% of Iowa schools: 72.4% actual against 71.3% predicted.
In the surrounding county, Polk County, the median household earns about $83,576 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 40%, and about 7% of people live in poverty. Counting Urbandale Middle School, Polk County has 137 public schools.
Urbandale High School is about 0.5 miles from Urbandale Middle School, the shortest distance to any other public school. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. Of the 9 nearby schools with scores, including this one, Urbandale Middle School is 4th on average proficiency.
Urbandale Middle School has an NCES locale of Suburb: Large.
By 2024-25, enrollment had dropped to 892, from 930 in 2020-21. The number of students per teacher dropped from 16.3 to 15.2 over 4 years.
The Urbandale Middle School discussion page is a place for homework, tutoring, and testing dates. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
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 Urbandale Comm School District
- Urbandale High SchoolHigh · 1,301 students
- Olmsted Elementary SchoolElementary · 622 students
- Valerius Elementary SchoolElementary · 598 students
- Webster Elementary SchoolElementary · 519 students
- Karen Acres Elementary SchoolElementary · 233 students
- Karen Acres Elementary SchoolCombined
Other schools in Urbandale
- Urbandale High SchoolHigh · 1,301 students
- Walnut Hills Elementary SchoolElementary · 708 students
- Olmsted Elementary SchoolElementary · 622 students
- Valerius Elementary SchoolElementary · 598 students
- Webster Elementary SchoolElementary · 519 students
- Waterford Elementary SchoolElementary · 464 students
Nearby schools
- Urbandale High School0.5 mi · 1,301
- Olmsted Elementary School0.6 mi · 622
- Karen Acres Elementary School0.8 mi · 233
- Timber Ridge Elementary1.3 mi · 667
- Valerius Elementary School1.3 mi · 598
- Crestview School of Inquiry1.9 mi · 558
Frequently asked questions
About Urbandale Middle SchoolHow large is Urbandale Middle School?
Urbandale Middle School enrolls approximately 892 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Urbandale Middle School serve?
Urbandale Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Urbandale Middle School?
Approximately 15.2:1 students per teacher at Urbandale Middle School.
What is the student diversity at Urbandale Middle School?
Student demographics at Urbandale Middle School are roughly 63% White, 15% Hispanic, 9% Black, 7% Asian, 6% Two or more.
What district is Urbandale Middle School in?
Urbandale Middle School is part of Urbandale Comm School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.