The top reported proficiency rate is 52% in Math. The lowest is 23% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Oak Park
Oak Park serves kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school within the Des Moines Independent Community School District. It occupies a building on Sixth Avenue in Des Moines, Iowa’s capital and most populous city, a place of insurance, financial services, and data-processing employers that also has a substantial downtown civic core, extensive parkland, and a metro population that has grown over recent years.
The student body is diverse. Enrollment is moderate for an elementary school. Hispanic and Black students each make up roughly a quarter of the school, White students about the same share, and Asian students and students of two or more races each account for a smaller portion. A very high share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, well above what a typical public school serves. This economic concentration is a central characteristic of the school. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not reported in the sources used here, so a reader cannot assess special education and language-learner populations from this profile.
State assessment results are available for the most recent testing year. In math, a little more than half of students scored at the proficient level on the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress. In English language arts, the proficient share was lower, under half. In science, tested at grade five, the proficient share was lower still, about a quarter. Participation rates were high across all three subjects. The school’s overall proficiency index sits in the bottom quartile relative to the other school districts in Polk County. Because this is a single-year snapshot with no prior trend data for comparison, there is no way to see whether performance is improving or declining from this source.
A parent should note that state testing in Iowa uses a proficiency standard that may differ from what a family is used to in another state, and that elementary-level scores reflect a single point in time in a building that serves many students in economic disadvantage. These numbers describe a school where the majority of students are not yet meeting the state’s proficiency bar in reading and science, and math proficiency is just above the halfway mark. For a family weighing this choice, asking the school about specific instructional supports, literacy programs, and intervention strategies would be a natural next step.
The school is part of the Des Moines Independent Community School District, the city’s public school system. No district-level brief was available in the source material, so information about district-wide initiatives, budget changes, or enrollment trends at the system level is not covered here. Oak Park is a regular public school and does not have a magnet or charter designation. No data on discipline, chronic absenteeism, course access, or staffing was available.
In terms of housing in the surrounding area, home values are lower than the state median, and rents have risen notably over the past year. The economic context for most families in the school zone is one of constrained household budgets, consistent with the high free-lunch rate. This school fits a family looking for a neighborhood elementary school in a large urban district, one that serves an economically diverse but predominantly low-income student body. The academic results suggest a building where improvement efforts are needed, and where a parent may want to engage directly with the school to understand how their child’s specific needs would be met.
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