How Many Kids Are in Our Elementary Buildings?

NOTE: Due to inaccurately attributing students in Willson-Beardshear (WB) as being pre-K or early-K, a previous post was taken down. This post does account for the 82 Kindergarten students housed in WB during the ’05-’06 WB school year.. Thanks Marcia for catching it!

Questions – How Many Elementary Students?

I was asked by one of my neighbors a couple of obvious questions – How many kids are in our 5 elementary buildings? How many were there when the two elementaries were closed? Though seemingly straightforward, if you have followed efforts to get accurate student counts you soon learn it is anything but easy to determine.

During the school, the number of kids in the district fluctuates on a daily basis. Over the summer, as families move in and out of Ames the numbers also vary. One way to monitor student count over time is to use the Iowa Department of Education web site. Among all of the data maintained there is the PreK-12 enrollment data. ( link ) It is part of the BEDS (Basic Educational Data Survey) dataset.

What Are the Numbers?

To be able to answer both questions, data from both the 2005-2006 school year and the most recently completed 2010-2011 school year were reviewed. ( link ) The 5 elementary buildings looked at are Edwards, Fellows, Meeker, Mitchell and Sawyer.

In the 2005-2006 school year, Willson-Beardshear housed the district’s pre-K and early-K programs. According to Dept of Ed figures it also housed 82 Kindergarteners. The district reported having 1,757 K-5 students in the 5 elementary buildings.

In 2010-2011, with Willson-Beardshear having been closed, K-5 students were housed solely in the 5 elementary buildings. The district reported having 1,867 students in the 5 elementary buildings.

This means that the 5 elementary buildings reported having 1,757 students in 2005-2006 and 1,867 students in 2010-2011. The change is an increase of 110.

Dr. Dave