NCES CCD 2024-25 14 schools IA

Best-Resourced Schools in West Des Moines, IA

Compiled from official source data by .

14 public K-12 schools in West Des Moines from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
14
Schools
9,015
Students
46.1/100
Avg Resource Index
15.3:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Middle-of-corpus city profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, West Des Moines has more public-school enrollment than 77% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. West Des Moines sits in the broad middle of the national city distribution rather than at a single obvious extreme. Its scale, average Resource Investment Index, and staffing position need to be read together: a middle placement on one measure does not cancel a stronger or weaker result on another. The percentile panel makes those dimensions explicit, and the school table shows where the city aggregate breaks into materially different campus profiles.

Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio

6 of West Des Moines's 14 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.

Campus spread matters more than the city mean

The 28-point gap between Walnut Creek Campus and Valley High School shows the range hidden by West Des Moines's average Resource Investment Index. The city figure is useful for national placement, but families ultimately choose among campuses with different grade spans, enrollment, district affiliations, and reported support fields. Start with schools serving the relevant grade level, then compare the index components rather than assuming the city average describes any one classroom.

City enrollment
Top 23%
School count
Top 25%
Resource Index average
75th percentile
Teacher staffing
51st percentile

Valley High School accounts for 24.2% of all West Des Moines public-school enrollment

That concentration means West Des Moines-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

West Des Moines school enrollment varies 75× across entities

West Des Moines school enrollment ranges from 29 students (lowest) to 2,178 students (highest), a spread of 2,149 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

West Des Moines student-teacher ratio is 15.3:1 — near the typical range (US average ~15.7) — citywide staffing is neither unusually lean nor unusually crowded by this measure

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Variation between sub-units within West Des Moines is typically wider than the West Des Moines-aggregate figure suggests.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. Walnut Creek Campus 64
2. Stilwell Junior High School 57
3. Maple Grove Elementary School 53
4. Valley Southwoods 50
5. Woodland Hills Elementary School 50
6. Brookview Elementary School 45
7. Jordan Creek Elementary School 43
8. Western Hills Elementary School 43
9. Hillside Elementary School 43
10. Westridge Elementary 42
11. Fairmeadows Elementary School 42
12. Crossroads Park Elementary School 42
13. Valley High School 36
14. Learning Resource Center 36

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in West Des Moines

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Hillside Elementary School 69.1/100
  2. 2 Maple Grove Elementary School 68.4/100
  3. 3 Walnut Creek Campus 66.5/100
  4. 4 Western Hills Elementary School 66.3/100
  5. 5 Crossroads Park Elementary School 64.1/100

What do families ask about schools in West Des Moines?

Which West Des Moines school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Walnut Creek Campus has the highest Resource Investment Index among the West Des Moines schools in this federal-data comparison at 64/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in West Des Moines, IA? ▼

West Des Moines has 14 public schools with a total enrollment of 9,015 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 15.3:1.

Other Cities in Iowa

Des Moines
64 schools
Cedar Rapids
42 schools
Davenport
26 schools
Sioux City
22 schools
Dubuque
18 schools
Ankeny
17 schools

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in Iowa →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.