If you look only at the overall K-12 chronic absenteeism rate, West Des Moines Community School District^↗ET appears to have a manageable problem. At 24.3%, it is above the state average of 15.8% — concerning, but in line with many suburban districts navigating post-COVID attendance challenges.

Decompose the number by grade band and the picture is different. West Des Moines' K-8 chronic rate is 13.6%. Its computed high school rate is 44.9%. Nearly half of the district's high school students are chronically absent. The 31.4-point gap between the two grade bands is the largest among 71 Iowa district records with 500 or more computed high school students.

An eight-year climb

The high school rate has not spiked and recovered. It rose from 11.2% in 2016-17 to 44.9% in 2024-25, a 33.7-point increase over eight years. The climb was not perfectly linear, but the recent pattern is stark: 30.4% in 2021-22, 33.8% in 2022-23, 37.7% in 2023-24 and 44.9% in 2024-25. The K-8 rate, by contrast, has followed the broader state pattern, rising during COVID and falling back.

The divergence is not a pandemic artifact. In 2018-19, before COVID, West Des Moines' K-8 and HS rates were within a point of each other (9.2% vs. 9.6%). By 2020-21, the gap was 23.7 points. By 2024-25, it was 31.4. Something changed in West Des Moines high schools that has been building for nearly a decade.

The statewide computed high school rate is 22.1% — already alarming, but West Des Moines sits double that. Where most districts saw their high school rates peak during COVID and begin falling, West Des Moines' rate continued climbing: 30.4% (2022), 33.8% (2023), 37.7% (2024), 44.9% (2025).

An all-time high while the state improves

West Des Moines is one of 10 Iowa district records to post its all-time worst K-12 chronic absenteeism rate in 2024-25, a year when 285 of 324 comparable district records improved. Its overall K-12 rate of 24.3% is the highest in the district's nine-year data history. The K-8 improvement is real, but it cannot offset a high school rate that keeps climbing.

The district enrolls 9,137 students, making it the 10th-largest in Iowa. With a computed 3,117 high school students and a 44.9% chronic rate, about 1,400 high schoolers are chronically absent.

The suburban paradox

West Des Moines does not look like an absence outlier at every level. Its K-8 rate is lower than the state K-12 average. The outlier is the computed high-school rate.

That pattern points to a high-school-specific problem, not a districtwide attendance collapse. The data does not say why. It could reflect disengagement, scheduling, school climate, health, transportation, family responsibilities or some mix of causes the state file does not capture.

Iowa's data does not include enough granularity to determine whether the 44.9% high school rate is concentrated in specific grades (twelfth-graders who have essentially checked out vs. ninth-graders struggling with the transition), specific schools, or specific student populations. The absence of demographic subgroup data means the district cannot target interventions to the students most affected.

What the trend line makes clear is that this is not a problem that is resolving on its own. A 33.7-point increase at the high school level, running counter to the statewide improvement in 2024-25, suggests a systemic issue that will require a systemic response.

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Iowa publishes district-level chronic absenteeism data through the Iowa Department of Education. The IAEdTribune is an independent publication and is not affiliated with the Iowa Department of Education.

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