Preparing Students to Succeed in High School

Goodrell, located on the east side of Des Moines, was the first middle school in Iowa to offer the International Baccalaureate Programme.

Nearly 7,000 students attend middle school in Des Moines, at traditional schools as well as special programs.

Ten comprehensive middle schools – Brody, Callanan, Harding, Goodrell, Hiatt, Hoyt, McCombs, Meredith, Merrill and Weeks – are located throughout the city.

Many these offer special educational programming. For example, four of our middle schools (Goodrell, Merrill, Brody and Meredith) are accredited International Baccalaureate schools.

In addition, Harding is a Turnaround Arts school, McCombs offers the AVID program, and Cowles Montessori School, which serves students through 8th grade, is Iowa’s only public Montessori school.

DMPS also offers an alternative middle school program, which was established in 2014 at the Jesse Franklin Taylor Education Center.

For more information about middle schools in Des Moines, visit the directory in the menu to the right.