The top reported proficiency rate is 62% in Math. The lowest is 44% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Pleasant Hill Elementary School
Pleasant Hill Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade as part of the Des Moines Independent Community School District. The school is a regular public school located within the city of Des Moines, Iowa’s capital and most populous city, a major insurance and financial services hub with a growing tech sector. The metro area has seen recent economic development, including data-processing facilities from large technology companies, and the city itself maintains extensive parks and trails. The school’s address sits within the city limits, though the Pleasant Hill neighborhood—an area east of downtown—gives it a suburban-adjacent feel. The broader Des Moines housing market shows typical home values and rents near the national median, with rents slightly above estimated mortgage costs.
Academically, the most recent state assessment results from the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress show that in both reading and English language arts and in mathematics, roughly three out of five students met the state’s proficiency standard. Science proficiency is lower, with under half of tested students meeting the benchmark, though science is assessed only in a single grade (fifth). Participation rates on the assessments were high. The school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects, when averaged and compared against other schools in Polk County, falls below the midpoint of the county’s districts. That means a parent looking at the broader set of elementary options in Des Moines and its surrounding communities will find that Pleasant Hill’s results are on the lower end—a fact worth examining in context with the school’s student population and resources. Only a single year of assessment data was available, so no trend line can be drawn yet.
The school enrolls a moderate-sized student body for an elementary. A substantial majority of students are white, with a sizable Hispanic minority, and smaller shares of Black, multiracial, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. About three-fifths of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a school community with a significant proportion of families experiencing lower income. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported.
As a kindergarten-through-fifth-grade school, there is no graduation rate, and no information on chronic absenteeism, discipline, or staffing was available. The parent district, Des Moines Independent Community School District, is a large urban district, and while no specific district-level initiatives or changes were included in the available data, the district’s size means families may encounter a range of program options and school-choice dynamics within the system.
For a family considering this school, the core picture is an elementary school in a large urban district, with a diverse student body and a moderate to high share of students from low-income backgrounds. Academic proficiency in reading and math is modest when set against the county, and science performance is notably weaker. The school operates within the broader context of a growing capital city with a stable economy and reasonable housing costs relative to national benchmarks. A parent may want to ask the school directly about academic supports, enrichment offerings, and how the school addresses the needs of its student population, especially given the poverty rate and the below-county-average proficiency.
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