Valley High School
West Des Moines, IA 50266
Phone: (515) 633-4000
District: West Des Moines Community School District
GreatSchools Rating
public • Grades 10,11,12 • 2060 students
Valley High School, a public school located in West Des Moines, IA, serves grades 10-12 in the West Des Moines Community School District.It has received a GreatSchools Rating of 4 out of 10, based on a variety of school quality measures.
Valley High School is a public school located in West Des Moines, IA. 2060 students attend Valley High School.
School Ratings
| Category | Rating | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Test Scores | 3/10 | The Test Score Rating examines how students at this school performed on standardized tests compared with other schools in the state. The Test Rating was created using 2025 Iowa Assessment data from Iowa Department of Education. |
| College Readiness | 8/10 | The College Readiness Rating uses this high school's graduation rates, college entrance exam participation and performance, or AP, IB, or Dual Enrollment participation to determine how well schools are preparing students for success in college and beyond. The College Readiness Rating was created using the following data from the 2021 Civil Rights Data Collection: percentage of students enrolled in IB, AP or Dual Enrollment classes in grades 9-12, using 2024 4-year high school graduation rate data from Iowa Department of Education, using 2025 Average ACT score data from Iowa Department of Education, and using 2026 demographic data from Iowa Department of Education. |
| Student Growth | 3/10 | The Student Progress Rating measures whether students at this school are making academic progress over time based on student growth data provided by the Department of Education. Specifically, this rating looks at how much progress individual students have made on state assessments during the past year or more, how this performance aligns with expected progress based on a student growth model established by the state Department of Education, and how this school's growth data compares to other schools in the state. The Growth Rating was created using 2025 Student growth data from Iowa Department of Education. |
Worrisome patterns of chronic student absenteeism have been identified.
Posted: June 30, 2023
Great school had 4 kids go there
Posted: June 30, 2023
Posted: June 30, 2023
Posted: June 30, 2023
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Posted: June 30, 2023
Posted: June 30, 2023
Posted: June 30, 2023
Posted: December 12, 2021
Posted: December 12, 2021
Posted: December 12, 2021
Posted: December 12, 2021
Posted: December 12, 2021
Safe, good teachers, very diverse courses available, many extracurriculars.
Posted: December 12, 2021
Posted: December 12, 2021
Posted: December 12, 2021
Posted: July 31, 2018
Good. We have two sons who have graduated from Valley. The biggest issue is over crowding. There are just too many kids in one building. Sports overshadow academics and arts. The curriculum is stellar, so many options. If a child has a solid foundation and strong character going in, theyll succeed. Kids with less stable home environments may find it tricky to really come into their own. But this isnt really much different than 90% of the highschools in the US.
Posted: July 31, 2018
They work with parents, kids and teachers. There are before and after school staffed study times. A learning lab is offered for kids who need a bit more instruction during study halls
Posted: July 31, 2018
Most teachers are very engaged and want kids to learn. They are understaffed and underfunded like most public schools.
Posted: July 31, 2018
A school cannot easily override the character a child is taught at home. Valley has extremely wealthy families and those below the poverty line. My family falls in the middle. There are wonderful kids with a lot of character at both ends of the spectrum.
Posted: July 31, 2018
Very involved with staff and require the use of dedicated software to communicate with students and parents. Its fairly new, so there are some things left to fine tune
Posted: July 31, 2018
They try very hard to support kids with learning differences, but their funding continues to get cut and the state recently took away teachers collective bargaining rights, so Iowa as a whole is losing extremely gifted and caring teachers.
Posted: July 31, 2018
The administration actively implements new anti-bullying protocols however, that can only go so far when parents are bullies too. The very wealthy tend to buy or bully the administration and school board.
Posted: March 24, 2018
I am a current student at Valley High School and, honestly, ever since my sister (now graduated) and I arrived in the district our problems with staff and students have been wholly ignored by the principal. I would not recommend sending your child to a school that does nothing if a student is being bullied by students and staff alike. I've had such a horrible experience here that my parents gave me the option to drop out and I almost took the chance to get out while I could. I wish I could say better things about this school.
Posted: March 24, 2018
Posted: March 24, 2018
Posted: March 24, 2018
Posted: March 24, 2018
Posted: March 24, 2018
Posted: January 7, 2012
This is just a response to everyone that complains about Valley being a stuck up school. Yes, it's a wealthy suburb. Yes, they're proud of their sports teams. But that doesnt make it any different than any other school. All schools are going to have cliques, and Valley is one of them. I graduated last year, and I was never part of a clique. I wasn't "popular," I wasn't in sports. I wasn't one of the most noticed or celebrated students, nor did I do drugs or get in trouble a lot. But I loved it there. I loved the atmosphere, and I loved the teachers. I can think of a ton of other schools in the area that have "drug problems," its high school. Thats how it is. But don't judge the school by some of the kids that go there, not everyone is stuck up, not everyone is super rich.
Reviews provided by GreatSchools™
| # | Name | Type | City | State | Overall Rating | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Copper Creek | Neighborhood/Subdivision | Pleasant Hill | IA | 12.4 mi |
| # | Name | City | State | Overall Rating | Distance |
|---|
| Base | Distance |
|---|---|
| Camp Dodge | 7.7 mi. |
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