Original Research by School Decision on Gilbert Elementary School
Gilbert Elementary School serves the earliest grades in the Gilbert Community School District, offering prekindergarten through second grade in a single building. As a regular public school, it is the entry point for the district's roughly two dozen years of education, after which students move to the district's intermediate school, middle school, and high school. The school sits in the town of Gilbert, a small, mainly residential community just north of Ames and Iowa State University. The town describes itself as having a small‑town atmosphere and being a desirable respite from commuter life, and it has grown steadily in recent years, becoming one of the faster‑growing small towns in Iowa.
The student body reflects the surrounding community. The enrollment is moderate for a primary school, and the share of students who qualify for free or reduced‑price lunch is low, an indicator of the overall affluence of the town. Racially, the student population is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Asian, Hispanic, and multiracial students and a very small share of Black students. Data on the number of students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available, so a family may want to ask the school directly about its special education and language support services.
Because Gilbert Elementary only serves prekindergarten through second grade, state assessment data does not apply to this school. Iowa begins its standardized testing in grade three, so there are no proficiency results, no academic performance trends, and no graduation rate to report. That absence is not a reflection of the school's quality; it simply means the school is not yet in the grades that are tested. Families looking for a measure of academic outcomes in the district will need to examine results at the intermediate school and beyond.
The town of Gilbert is compact and walkable in parts, with a walking trail near the elementary school, several parks, a public library, a museum on Main Street, and two community centers. The school is integrated into this small‑town fabric rather than placed on a separate campus. Housing values in the area are above the state average and close to the national average, and the town's growth has been steady, suggesting demand from families moving into the community. The district itself had no recent major changes publicly reported, so the school's operation appears to be stable and consistent.
A parent considering Gilbert Elementary should understand it as a low‑poverty, early‑grades environment set in a small, growing town adjacent to a larger college city. The school's mission is foundational literacy and numeracy, social development, and the habits of school life, all before testing begins. The absence of test data means there is no public scorecard for this building, but the district's high graduation rate and strong performance at later grades — reported elsewhere — may give some confidence. The fit is for families who value a small‑town setting, a relatively homogeneous student body in terms of economic background, and a school that feeds into a district with a solid reputation in central Iowa.
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