The top reported proficiency rate is 55% in Math. The lowest is 33% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Phillips Elementary
Phillips Elementary is a K-5 regular public school in the Des Moines Independent Community School District, located on Lay Street in a residential section of Iowa’s capital city. It serves students from kindergarten through fifth grade and operates as a neighborhood school within the larger district. Because it covers only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and the academic measures available come from state assessments administered in grades three through five.
The school enrolls around 250 students, which is on the smaller side for an elementary school in this part of the state. The student body is majority White, with a substantial Hispanic population, and smaller groups of Black, Asian, multiracial, and American Indian or Alaska Native students. A significant share of families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves many households with lower incomes. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available in the source information.
State assessment results from the Iowa ISASP are available for math, English language arts, and science. In math, just over half of students met the proficiency standard. In English language arts, fewer than half reached that benchmark, and in science, about a third of students scored proficient. Participation rates were high across all three subjects. When comparing the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects against other districts in Polk County, Phillips Elementary sits in the bottom quartile. This means its academic performance, taken as a whole, is lower than many of its county peers. Families looking at this school may want to speak with staff directly about how the school supports student learning and whether interventions or enrichment are in place to address these results.
No data on attendance, discipline, staffing, or course access was included, so those dimensions of school life cannot be assessed from this profile. Programs such as gifted offerings, dual-language tracks, or extracurricular activities were also not reported. If these are priorities for a family, contacting the school directly would be the next step.
The school sits within Des Moines, Iowa’s capital and largest city, a regional center for the insurance and financial services industries. Employers such as Principal Financial Group, Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Wells Fargo have major operations in the metro, and technology companies have built data centers in the area. The city has grown modestly in recent years, and its population is spread across 46 neighborhoods. The area around the school offers parkland and trails, and the downtown core is a short drive away.
Housing in the zip code that includes Phillips Elementary is moderately priced relative to both state and national benchmarks. Typical home values and rents fall below the broader state averages, making the neighborhood more affordable than many parts of the Des Moines metro. The local unemployment rate and rental costs are roughly in line with national trends.
Phillips Elementary provides a neighborhood school option in a diverse, urban setting. Its academic results are below the county average, and families may want to explore what academic supports and enrichment opportunities are available. The school’s size and community context could be a good fit for those seeking a smaller elementary environment within a larger district and an affordable housing market in Iowa’s capital.
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