The top reported proficiency rate is 72% in Math. The lowest is 55% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Roosevelt Elementary School
Roosevelt Elementary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in the Council Bluffs Community School District. The school is a regular public elementary school, not a charter or magnet, and it draws its students from the surrounding neighborhoods of Council Bluffs, a mid-sized city that sits directly across the Missouri River from Omaha, Nebraska, forming part of a larger metropolitan area.
The school’s enrollment is in the range typical for an elementary school serving this grade band in a city of this size. The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population that represents a meaningful share of enrollment, and smaller numbers of students who identify as two or more races, Black, Asian, or American Indian. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a population with significant economic need.
On the most recent state assessments, which are the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress given in grades three through five, Roosevelt’s students showed a pattern worth noting. In math, a clear majority of students met the proficient or above benchmark, a result that stood as the school’s strongest tested subject. In both English language arts and science, roughly half of students reached proficiency. Placed in context within Pottawattamie County, the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects fell in the bottom quartile compared to other district-level peers in the county. This is a soft spot that a parent may want to look into further with the school, particularly in reading and writing, where the proficiency rate was lower than in math.
The school had only a single year of assessment results available in the data, so there is no trend information to show whether performance is improving or declining. No information was available on chronic absenteeism or the graduation rate, which is expected because the school does not serve high school grades.
Council Bluffs itself has a mixed economic base that includes food processing, manufacturing, casinos, and railroad operations. Major employers include Tyson Foods, several casinos, Omaha Standard Palfinger, and American Games. The city’s population has been relatively stable in recent decades, with slow growth followed by a slight decline in the most recent estimate. Housing in the zip code covering this area of Council Bluffs is notably more affordable than both the Iowa state median and the national median, which may be relevant for families considering the area. The city’s built environment includes a historic downtown with civic institutions like City Hall, the Union Pacific Museum, and the RailsWest Railroad Museum, while the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge connects to Omaha across the river. Lake Manawa State Park and other green spaces are nearby.
No recent district-level changes or strategic initiatives were found in publicly available information, so the operating context for Roosevelt appears stable without major announced shifts.
For a family considering this school, the key considerations are a math program that produced solid results for an elementary school serving a high-needs population, a reading and science program where results are more mixed and warrant attention, and a student body with significant economic diversity. The school is a standard neighborhood elementary option within the Council Bluffs district, without specialized program designations, and sits in a city where housing costs are relatively low and the economy is anchored by industrial, transportation, and gaming sectors.
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