Miseducation | Des Moines Independent Community School District | ProPublica

This database was last updated in October 2018, and its latest data is from the 2015-16 school year. Researchers can find more recent data at the U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection site.

Miseducation » Iowa

Des Moines Independent Community School District

2100 Fleur Drive, Des Moines, IA 50321

33.1K Students | 2,439 Teachers | 62 Schools

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District Composition
The Racial Divide

ProPublica has found that in school districts across the country, Black and Hispanic students are, on average, less likely to be selected for gifted programs and take AP courses than their white peers. They are also more likely, on average, to be suspended and expelled. Another measure of disparities is how segregated schools are in a district. Explore if disparities exist at this school across all racial groups. The first scores shown below are for racial groups with the highest disparities.

Opportunity

1.5x 

White students are 1.5 times as likely to be enrolled in at least one AP class as Black students.

White students are 1.4 times as likely to be enrolled in at least one AP class as Hispanic students.

A comparison between Asian, Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian students and White students enrolled at least one AP class is not available.

White students are 1.2 times as likely to be enrolled in at least one AP class as students of Two or More Races.

A comparison between Native American or Alaska Native students and White students enrolled at least one AP class is not available.

Discipline

2.7x 

Native American or Alaska Native students are 2.7 times as likely to be suspended as White students.

Black students are 2.6 times as likely to be suspended as White students.

A comparison between Hispanic students and White student suspensions is not available.

White students are 1.8 times as likely to be suspended as Asian, Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian students.

students of Two or More Races are 2.2 times as likely to be suspended as White students.

Segregation Index

Medium

Segregation between Black students students and White students is Medium, indicating that the distribution of these two racial groups among schools in this district is relatively uneven

Segregation between White students and Hispanic students is Medium, indicating that the distribution of these two racial groups among schools in this district isrelatively uneven

Achievement Gap

2.3 grades

Black students are, on average, academically 2.3 grades behind White students.

Hispanic students are, on average, academically 1.6 grades behind White students.

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Opportunity

School districts offer a variety of curricula and enrichment programs. Explore what advanced courses and specialized staff members are available for students in this district.


AP Course Composition

Gifted & Talented Composition

This District

State

Students

58% Nonwhite Students

75% Students Who Get Free/Reduced-Price Lunch

81% High School Graduation Rate

23% High School Students Taking at Least One AP Course

2,126 students

8% Students in a Gifted & Talented Program

2,502 students

21% Students Taking the SAT or ACT

1,891 students

19% Students Enrolled in Physics

1,696 students

7% Students Enrolled in Advanced Math

659 students

24% Students Enrolled in in Geometry

2,184 students

30% Students Enrolled in Biology

2,803 students

13% Students Enrolled in Chemistry

1,193 students

2% Students Enrolled in Calculus

144 students

< 1% Students Enrolled in 8th-Grade Algebra

328 students

Teachers & Resources

13.6 Students for Every Teacher

15% Inexperienced Teachers

50% Chronically Absent Teachers

(Missed more than 10 days in a 180-day school year)

11.4 Average Number of AP Courses per School

2.4 Social Workers, Psychologists & Counselors per 1000 students

0 Schools With Credit Recovery Programs

6 Schools With Dual Enrollment Programs

55 Schools With Gifted & Talented Programs

0 Schools With International Baccalaureates

This District

State

Discipline

School districts differ in how they discipline students. Explore how often this district punishes its students with suspensions, expulsions and corporal punishment.


Out-of-School Suspension Composition

Expulsion Composition

This District

State

Students

1,947 Total Out-of-School Suspended Students

6% of all students in this district

1,165 Total In-School Suspended Students

4% of all students in this district

64 Total Expelled Students

< 1% of all students in this district

Outcomes & Resources

60 Average Days Missed to Out-of-School Suspension, per School

1.3Average Number of Days of an Out-of-School Suspension

2 Total Arrests

263 Total Referrals to Law Enforcement

4 Average Referrals to Law Enforcement, per School

1 Average Transfers to Alternative Schools, per School

0.8 Security Guard or Law Enforcement Officer per 1000 students

This District

State

Civil Rights Coordinators

Districts are required to designate specific employees to ensure schools are in compliance with federal civil rights laws. Here are the designated civil rights coordinators for this district.

Civil Rights: All Forms of Discrimination
  • Anne Sullivan
  • 515-242-7709
  • Email
All Schools

Explore the disparities in discipline and academic opportunities across all schools in this district.

Sources & Notes

Sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, Stanford University's Center for Education Policy Analysis, EDFacts, U.S. Department of Education’s Common Core of Data. Maps courtesy of Mapbox Community. Read our methodology

Notes: The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights occasionally updates the underlying dataset. ProPublica may update the interactive’s data in response.

Disparity scores are not available if there are too few students in a specific racial group to make a statistically significant calculation. They are also not available if data about a particular racial group was not reported. Some schools or districts reported an overcount of students in a disparity category (such as suspensions or AP courses) when compared with the total enrollment of that particular student group. In such cases, we also omit the disparity score.

Due to rounding, demographic breakdowns in composition charts may add up to more than 100 percent.

The racial categories we show data for are: Black, Hispanic, White, Asian/Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian, Two or More Races, and Native American or Alaska Native. In some cases, we abbreviate the last three of these racial groups to Asian, Two+ Races, and Native Am.

Due to a technical issue with the Office for Civil Rights’ collection of data on sworn law enforcement officers in schools, the data for security staff may be an undercount.

As with any self-reported data, there may be errors in the federal Civil Rights Data Collection. Though districts are required to ensure the accuracy of their data, some may still report incorrect figures. Additionally, for some variables, the CRDC rounds the number of students for privacy reasons. In these cases, groups of students may represent a slight undercount or overcount.

Find errors? Have tips? Email [email protected].

Data specific to high school testing or high school level courses (including geometry, biology, calculus, AP enrollment, SAT testing rates, etc.) is calculated out of total high school enrollment, while data for other classes (such as eighth-grade algebra) is calculated out of total student enrollment. Read more about our data in our methodology

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