Iowa serves kindergarten through fifth-grade students. Our students reflect the diversity of our district and our community. About 60% of our students are White and about 30% are Hispanic.

We welcome children from different backgrounds and view this as a strength as we help prepare students for the future.

Ethnicity Profile 2006-07
	District	Iowa
White	67%	62%
Hispanic	30%	34%
Asian	1%	1%
Black	1%	1%
Native American	*	1%
Other	1%	1%
Pacific Islander	*	*
*Less than 1% of district or school

More than half of our students qualify for free or reduced-priced lunch. Research tells us that children living in poverty face significant disadvantages when compared to their affluent counterparts. These disadvantages can influence learning and achievement.

We cannot change the circumstances families face, but we can provide support to children where we are able. To this end, we aggressively pursue state and federal grants to provide additional assistance – such as before and after school programs so students can get extra help and have time to complete school work. We offer breakfast, lunch, and snacks for children, so they can focus on learning and not empty stomachs. We also partner with community services that can help families.

Most important, we believe that the best support to economically disadvantaged students is to hold them to the same challenging academic standards and expectations set for all students.

We take steps to ensure students are not left behind for any reason. We’ve adopted district wide pacing guides in reading and math so students who move frequently among our schools will not fall behind because they are in a new school.