Enrollment
257
Elementary
DISTRICT 347 · STATE 325
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DES MOINES INDEPENDENT COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 190897001143
Walnut Street School
901 Walnut St, Des Moines, IA 50309 · (515) 242-8438 · Polk County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL257 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 20% of Iowa public elementary 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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
14.9:1
17 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.3:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
62%
160 students
DISTRICT 76% · STATE 41%
Community
0
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 | 40 | 16% |
| Kindergarten | 37 | 14% |
| Grade 1 | 41 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 42 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 43 | 17% |
| Grade 4 | 27 | 11% |
| Grade 5 | 27 | 11% |
This year's kindergarten class (37) is 37% larger than its 5th grade class (27).
Student demographics
75%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 74% · 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
62.1%
IA avg 73.6% . -3.4pp since 2023
Math
48.9%
IA avg 70.9% . -11.8pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 62 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 49 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 3 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 12 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 62.1% | 48.9% |
| 2023-24 | 65.5% | 60.7% |
% 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
58.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
60.8%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-2.1pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 59% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 61% 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 Walnut Street School
Walnut Street School's state test result (58.7% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 3 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walnut Street School this school | 257 | 62.3% | 58.7% |
| Fillmore Elementary School Davenport | 388 | 63.7% | 51.8% |
| Children's Village West Davenport | 296 | 52.4% | N/A |
| Wright Elementary School Cedar Rapids | 282 | 68.8% | 58.9% |
| Mark Twain Elementary Iowa City | 213 | 66.7% | 53.4% |
| McKee Elementary School Des Moines | 235 | 66.0% | N/A |
Matched among Iowa elementary 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 Walnut Street School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Polk County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 58.7% | #469 of 564 | #47 of 78 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 48.9% | #524 of 564 ▼ 56 | #62 of 78 ▼ 13 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 62.1% | #441 of 564 ▼ 75 | #45 of 78 ▼ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 257 | #464 of 705 | #79 of 89 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.9:1 | #444 of 561 | #63 of 86 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 74.8% | #17 of 561 | #10 of 86 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 62.3% | #113 of 666 | #38 of 89 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -16.3% | #133 of 359 | #25 of 64 |
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. 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
257
+12 (+5%) vs 2020
+7% since 2010-11, when it was 241
Student : Teacher
14.9:1
was 12.3:1
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 | 257 | 17.2 | 14.9:1 | 62% (160) |
| 2023-24 | 244 | 16.7 | 14.6:1 | 55% (135) |
| 2022-23 | 269 | 19.8 | 13.6:1 | 65% (176) |
| 2020-21 | 245 | 20 | 12.3:1 | 66% (161) |
| 2017-18 | 307 | 20.4 | 15.1:1 | 47% (145) |
| 2015-16 | 295 | 25 | 11.8:1 | 40% (117) |
| 2010-11 | 241 | 19 | 12.7:1 | 47% (114) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Walnut Street School.
Since 2017-18: students down 16% (307 to 257); teachers down 16% (20.4 to 17.2).
About Walnut Street School
A low-enrollment elementary school in Des Moines, Iowa, Walnut Street School is part of Des Moines Independent Comm School District. It serves 257 students in pre-K through 5. The average among elementary schools in Iowa is roughly 325 students; this school is 21% smaller than that.
Des Moines Independent Comm School District counts 59 schools and 29,676 students, including Walnut Street School.
Federal enrollment data show Black students as the largest group at Walnut Street School, at 33%. Other groups make up 30% White, 19% Hispanic, 14% multiracial, and 5% Asian. County-wide, 7% of Polk County residents are Black. The school's diversity index is 75%, meaning two students picked at random have a 75% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
Dividing enrollment by its 17.2 full-time-equivalent teachers gives a ratio of about 14.9:1. That is 1.2 students per teacher above the 13.7:1 average for elementary schools in Iowa. Walnut Street School reports 62% of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals. That is higher than the 49% average for public schools in Polk County.
allk12 grades Walnut Street School a C-. The grade compares the school only with Iowa public elementary schools, because each state gives its own test.
The allk12 BeatsExpectations score for Walnut Street School is -2.1 points: 58.7% actual, 60.8% predicted.
Polk County census figures show that the median household income is $83,576, roughly 40% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. There are 137 public schools in Polk County, enrolling about 77,436 students in all.
Nearest public school: Virtual Campus, about 0.7 miles away. Within five miles are at least 8 other public schools. The average proficiency across nearby scored schools is 45.0%; Walnut Street School's is 58.7%, ranking 2nd of 7.
Federal data place Walnut Street School in the City: Mid-size locale, which means it is inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Enrollment is up 5% from 2020-21, when Walnut Street School had 245 students, to 2024-25, when it had 257. Its ratio of students to teachers was 12.3:1 in 2020-21, and 14.9:1 in 2024-25.
Questions about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news can be posted here. Questions from prospective families are welcome 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 Des Moines Independent Comm School District
- 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
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
Other Walnut Street schools
2 other US public schools in 2 states are named Walnut Street. Walnut Street School is the largest of the 3.
- Walnut Street SchoolDELANCO, NJ · 128 students
- Walnut Street SchoolWoodbury, NJ · 112 students
Nearby schools
- Virtual Campus0.7 mi · 380
- Downtown School0.7 mi · 197
- Edmunds Elementary School0.8 mi · 259
- Carver Elementary1.3 mi · 436
- McKinley Elementary School1.4 mi · 275
- Ruby Van Meter1.5 mi · 109
Frequently asked questions
About Walnut Street SchoolHow large is Walnut Street School?
Walnut Street School enrolls approximately 257 students in grades PK-05.
Is Walnut Street School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Walnut Street School is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many teachers does Walnut Street School have?
Walnut Street School employs 17 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 14.9:1.
What is the student diversity at Walnut Street School?
Student demographics at Walnut Street School are roughly 30% White, 19% Hispanic, 33% Black, 5% Asian, 14% Two or more.
What district is Walnut Street School in?
Walnut Street School is part of Des Moines Independent Comm School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.