Virtual Campus

Des Moines · IA · Des Moines Independent Comm School District · Public


📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 2 AP courses offered — Moderate
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 40% of US high schools
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 5% (Bottom 0% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts graduation data, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

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How Virtual Campus compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • LocallyIA students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+8 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Walnut Creek Campus, Iowa Falls - Alden High School, Davis County Community High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.

🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Moderate — some AP / advanced course access

Bottom 40% of US high schools

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
2
Subject breadth not reported
Students taking AP courses
74
≈19 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
9
0 calculus · 9 advanced
Lab science classes
2
0 physics · 2 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ Gifted/talented program

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). CRDC reports what's offered + enrolled — it doesn't collect AP exam pass rates (College Board owns that data and doesn't release it school-level).

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21
SAT/ACT test-takers
0
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
0.0
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

Bottom 0% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
5%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
51
Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years
Compared against
17,988
US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

Title I Schoolwide eligible

≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program

69.5%
FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).
0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

40-74% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The district can use Title I funds across the whole school under federal Schoolwide Program rules.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.

🏛️ Your state's public flagship

University of Iowa

85%
admit rate
$11,283
in-state tuition/yr · $33,371 out-of-state
1130–1320
SAT 25–75 · ACT 22–28

The in-state tuition gap is the flagship's biggest draw — most in-state families pay far less than the out-of-state sticker. Average net price after aid runs about $22,531/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full University of Iowa profile → Estimate your odds with your scores →

Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
200:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
1.9
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
13
Full-time-equivalent classroom teachers.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.

Enrollment trend & projection

Grade 12 went from 181 in 2021 to 144 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-20.4%

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -27.7%/year, projecting from 2024's 380 students:

2025
275
2027
143
2029
75

≈ 305 fewer students by 2029 — a real revenue/relevance risk worth getting ahead of.

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Revenue at risk

At $18,612 per student in district revenue, the 305 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $5,676,660/year in funding at risk.

District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.

Most similar nearby high schools

The schools most like this one — same type, blended on distance and size — and where their enrollment is heading. These are the schools families here weigh against each other.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
Walnut Creek Campus
West Des Moines
Public 3.7 152 +17.8%
Iowa Falls - Alden High School
Iowa Falls
Public 68.4 398 -7.0%
Davis County Community High School
Bloomfield
Public 86.1 358 -8.0%
Great Oaks High School and Career Center
Des Moines
Public · charter 3.4 72
West Delaware High School
Manchester
Public 128.6 436 -10.3%
Indianola High School
Indianola
Public 16.3 1,165 +5.4%
Earlham Senior High School
Earlham
Public 25.6 189 -2.1%
Hampton-Dumont High School
Hampton
Public 83.8 457 -2.1%

For Parents

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