The top reported proficiency rate is 86% in Math. The lowest is 80% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Waukee Elementary School
Waukee Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade in the Waukee Community School District, a fast-growing district in a fast-growing suburb of Des Moines. The school enrolls a student body that is predominantly white, with smaller shares of students who are two or more races, Hispanic, Black, and Asian. About a fifth of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that places the school well below the district-wide economic disadvantage level in many metro areas. This is a school with a relatively low share of poverty, which shapes the peer environment families will encounter.
Academically, Waukee Elementary posts strong results on the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress. Proficiency rates in math, English language arts, and science all land near or above four-fifths of students tested. The math and ELA proficiency rates are notably high, and the science rate is also strong. The school’s overall proficiency index sits just above the midpoint among elementary schools across Dallas County, with a handful of schools in the county posting higher results and a handful posting lower. For a parent considering this school, the state testing picture is one of solid, above-average performance across the core subjects, with no obvious weak spot.
The school itself is a regular public elementary school, not a magnet or charter. The grade band means there is no graduation rate, no college-readiness metric, and no data on chronic absenteeism or course access; those measures simply do not apply to a K-5 building. The civil-rights data on special populations, such as students with disabilities or English learners, was not reported in the available data, so a parent who needs information on those programs should ask the school directly.
The community context matters here. Waukee is the fastest-growing large city in Iowa. Its population has risen rapidly, and the school district is the fastest-growing in the state. This growth brings constant change. The district opened a second high school in 2021 to relieve overcrowding, voters approved a bond in 2023 to fund a twelfth elementary school and a new middle school, and the school board approved new elementary boundaries effective for the 2025-2026 school year that reassigned a large number of K-4 students to different schools. Current fifth graders and siblings of enrolled students were grandfathered in, but families moving into the district should expect that boundary adjustments are not hypothetical; they are recurring, and they are driven by the pace of new home construction.
The housing market reflects that demand. Home values in Waukee are elevated, and the typical rent is also high relative to the national average. The city is building out large mixed-use developments like Kettlestone on its southern edge, and Apple operates a data center campus. Major employers include the school district itself, an insurance brokerage, and a range of commercial and entertainment anchors. The built environment is auto-oriented; Waukee is the largest city in Iowa without fixed-route public transit, though some express bus service and demand-response transit exist.
For a family deciding whether this is the right elementary school, several factors stand out. The academic results are consistently strong. The peer environment is one of relatively low economic disadvantage. The student body is not highly diverse, though some diversity is present. The setting is suburban and growing rapidly, which means the school and the district are in a state of ongoing expansion, new construction, and boundary shifts. A parent who values stable, predictable school assignment may find the constant growth-driven adjustments a source of uncertainty. A parent who values a school that keeps pace with a growing community, with new facilities and capacity, will find that Waukee Elementary sits inside a district that is investing heavily in exactly that.
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