The top reported proficiency rate is 66% in Math. The lowest is 41% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Horizon Science Academy
Horizon Science Academy in Iowa is a small public charter district that currently serves kindergarten through third grade, a grade band that leaves out many of the metrics families typically look for when evaluating schools. State testing data is available only for third grade, so any picture of academic performance is necessarily narrow.
The district’s single school, Horizon Science Academy Des Moines, opened in August 2023 as a new tuition-free, non-selective public charter school. It was launched with a STEM-focused curriculum and a plan to add one grade per year, eventually reaching a full K-12 enrollment. By the 2025-2026 school year it had expanded to serve PreK through sixth grade. That growth trajectory is key to understanding what this place is: a start-up charter with a clear identity, not a mature district with years of trackable results.
On the state’s third-grade assessments, the results are mixed. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above sits above the midpoint for the district’s tested cohort. In English language arts, the share is lower. When placed among all Polk County districts, the district’s overall proficiency index—averaging math and ELA results—sits in the bottom quartile. That position matters, but the context matters more: the tested group is small, and the district is brand new. A parent may want to follow how these numbers trend as the school adds grades and its student body grows.
The enrollment is small, with students spread across kindergarten through third grade. The student body is racially and ethnically varied. White students make up the largest share, followed by Black students and Hispanic students, with a smaller share of multiracial students and a very small number of Asian students. No information on economic disadvantage, special education, or English learner status is available in the record, which is a gap a parent may want to fill by asking the school directly. The district does not yet offer the high school programs, graduation rates, or chronic absenteeism data that would appear in a full K-12 system, and no staffing, discipline, or course access information was provided.
What is clear is that this is a young, deliberately small charter that presents a specific pathway. It offers a STEM-focused curriculum, small class sizes, and a 1:1 technology model, all framed as a free public school option for Des Moines families. The district’s charter agreement with the state Department of Education and its receipt of a federal Charter Schools Program grant confirm that this is a publicly funded, non-selective school operating under state oversight. For a parent who wants a school that centers science and technology from the early grades and is willing to accept a limited track record and a performance picture that is still unfolding, Horizon Science Academy is a plausible fit. For a parent who wants a longer history of results or a broader range of tested grades on which to judge the school, this place may feel like too early a look.
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