Summary
Carver Elementary is a public elementary school in Des Moines, Iowa, serving grades PK-5 with a total enrollment of 419 students. Despite being part of the Des Moines Independent Community School District, which is ranked 306 out of 313 districts in the state, Carver Elementary has consistently ranked among the lowest-performing elementary schools in Iowa over the past decade, consistently ranking in the bottom 10% of schools statewide.
Carver Elementary faces significant challenges, including extremely high chronic absenteeism rates ranging from 21.6% to 42.0%, well above the district and state averages. Academically, Carver students consistently perform well below their peers across the state and district in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science. For example, in 2024-2025, only 33.9% of 3rd graders, 47.4% of 4th graders, and 36.5% of 5th graders were proficient or better in ELA, compared to 67.9%, 76%, and 69.8% statewide, respectively. Additionally, Carver Elementary has an extremely high percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, ranging from 87.35% to 95.43% in recent years, significantly higher than the district and state averages.
When comparing Carver Elementary to nearby schools within the same district, it becomes clear that Carver is an outlier in terms of academic performance and other key metrics. For example, Downtown School, located just 1.9 miles away, consistently outperforms Carver Elementary by a significant margin, with 73.5% of 3rd graders proficient or better in ELA and 85.3% proficient or better in Math in 2024-2025. Despite the higher-than-average spending per student at Carver Elementary, the school's academic performance remains significantly below state and district averages, raising questions about the effectiveness of the school's resource allocation and the need for a more targeted and strategic approach to improving student outcomes.
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