Enrollment Continues to Grow Throughout DMPS
The 2015-16 school year has meant another year of enrollment increases at DMPS.
Enrollment trends continue to be positive at Des Moines Public Schools.
In fact, unlike many larger, more urban school districts across the country, DMPS has seen enrollment go up six of the past seven years, with an increase of 1,800 students during the time.
Enrollment figures recently released for the 2015-16 school year show DMPS experienced 0.5 percent growth since last school year, and a 4.4 percent increase in enrollment over the past ten years. Enrollment also increased at all three levels of schools: elementary, middle and high.
One of the fastest growing student populations within DMPS are English Language Learners, which has increased by over 70 percent during the past decade. Today, one out of five DMPS students are also an ELL student.
The following table compares the enrollment between the current school year and last year:
| 2014-15 | 2015-16 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Certified Enrollment | 32,398 | 32,582 | 184 |
| Demographics (K-12) | |||
| Free and Reduced Lunch | 72.3% | 74.8% | 2.5% |
| English Language Learners | 18.5% | 20.6% | 2.1% |
| Special Education | 15.1% | 15.1% | 0.0% |
| White | 43.4% | 42.0% | -1.4% |
| Hispanic | 24.3% | 25.0% | 0.7% |
| African American | 17.9% | 18.3% | 0.4% |
| Asian | 7.3% | 7.7% | 0.4% |
| Multi-Racial | 6.5% | 6.4% | -0.1% |
| Native American | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.0% |
| Pacific Islander | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
State funding for public education is based, in large part, on a school district’s certified enrollment.
Click here to download a spread sheet of the district’s current enrollment report.
Dr. Mary Grinstead, director of research and data management for DMPS, prepared the following summary of enrollment trends at DMPS over the past decade.
Over the past ten years, Des Moines Public Schools (DMPS) has experienced a net increase in certified grade PK-12 enrollment of about 4.4 percent, or 1,361 students. From the 2006-07 to 2008-09 school year, DMPS PK-12 enrollment declined by 1.4 percent, from 31,221 to 30,783 students. Starting in the 2009-10 school year, enrollment steadily increased to 32,582 students in 2015-16, for a total gain of 5.8 percent over the last seven years.
Figure 1 illustrates the ten-year grade PK-12 enrollment trend:
To better understand the enrollment change, Figure 2 shows the enrollment trends in the regular elementary, middle school, and high school programs:
The first sign of a continuous enrollment increase was seen in the 2009-10 school year on the elementary and middle school trend lines. The 2010 U.S. Census also documented an increase in the number of children from birth to four years of age in Des Moines and Polk County. For the City of Des Moines, there was an 8.5 percent increase in preschool age children between 2000 and 2010. That increase is reflected in the elementary enrollment. A recent study by Ochsner, Hare, and Hare (2013)* projected that the number of preschool children will continue to increase in the future. They estimated that by 2018, the number of birth to four year olds will increase by 3.0 percent within the DMPS attendance area and the number of school age children within the DMPS attendance area will increase by 7.1 percent.
RACE/ETHNICITY. As enrollment has changed, the composition of the student body has also changed. Figure 3 illustrates ethnic and racial trends from 2006-07 to 2015-16 for K-12 enrollment:
In part, the change may be attributed to the way the U.S. Census defined ethnicity and race in 2009-10. In 2009-10, Hispanic was identified as an ethnicity separate from race. Also, two additional racial groups were designated: Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and Multi-Racial. For illustration purposes, other includes American Indian and Multi- Racial in years prior to 2009-10. From 2009-10 and forward, other includes American Indian and Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander.
ELIGIBILITY FOR SERVICES/PROGRAMS. Figure 4 highlights the changes in K-12 enrollment with regard to eligibility for free/reduced priced lunch, English language learner programming, and special education services:
DMPS mirrors the state’s upward trend of children eligible for free/reduced priced lunch through 2014-15. However, Iowa’s rate of eligibility is lower than DMPS’s, with 38.8 percent** of students in Iowa (excluding DMPS) eligible in 2014-15 and 74.8 percent of DMPS students eligible in 2015-16.
The number of English language learner (ELL) students has steadily increased in DMPS and Iowa. In the past ten years, the ELL population at DMPS has grow by over 70 percent. Currently, ELL students represent 20.6 percent of DMPS students. DMPS is ranked 11th in the state with regard to percentage of ELL students. DMPS educates approximately 6,500 ELL students in grades K-12. The number of ELL students at DMPS is more than the total number students enrolled at 96 percent of Iowa districts.
The percentage of students requiring special education services has held steady in DMPS. In 2014-15, 12.6 percent** of students statewide required services, while 15.1 percent of DMPS students required services in 2015-16.
* located at www.dmschools.org/board/meetings/minutes
** 2015-16 data not yet available
