Annual education report finds increasing enrollment, diversity in Iowa schools

More students were enrolled in Iowa schools in 2014 than in 2013, and more students are minorities than ever before, according to an annual report released Thursday by the Iowa Department of Education.

The 2014 Condition of Education report showed a third consecutive year of increased enrollment overall.

That growth is likely to continue, said Jay Pennington, the Department of Education's bureau chief for information and analysis.

Minority students now account for 21.1 percent of Iowa students overall, and the number of minority students — 100,151 — represents an all-time high, according to the report.

The number of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch also increased. Eligibility for the lunch program, a common measure of poverty in schools, increased slightly in the 2013-14 school year to 41.1 percent, up from 41 percent in 2012-13.

Minority enrollment in Iowa public schools

Among all Iowa students in 2013-14, 5.3 percent were English language learners, up from 5 percent in 2012-13.

'Data and information are vital in education,' Iowa Department of Education Director Brad Buck said in prepared remarks. 'They help us determine our needs, map out goals and action steps, and then evaluate our progress. We also depend on good data to help guide our improvement efforts, from the local classroom to the state level.'

Test score data showed mixed results. More students in fourth and eighth grade in 2012 through 2014 had proficient scores in reading and math than in 2009 through 2011. But fewer 11th graders had proficient scores in reading.

Pennington said that could be because the state used a new form of the Iowa Assessments last year. Results from this year could be more indicative of students' performance, he said.

Iowa's average composite ACT score dropped slightly for the class of 2014, down to 22.0 from 22.1 in 2013.

Among Iowa teachers, average salaries increased 3.7 percent for the 2013-14 school year, up to $51.937.

But state data showed a pay gap between men and women among public school teachers, with men being paid about $2,600 more per year, despite fewer male teachers having advanced degrees and only a slight experience advantage for men.

'This isn't unique to educators,' Pennington said. 'Pay inequality among genders is an issue nationally as well as within this field.'

Since 2000, Pennington said, Iowa's smallest and largest school districts have seen increasing enrollment, with mid-size districts losing students. Some districts in the Corridor seem to buck that trend, with the Cedar Rapids Community School District losing students over the last several years and the College Community, Linn-Mar and Solon districts, among others, growing.

The report also showed schools making gains in technology readiness. Though total spending on computer hardware and software was down slightly in 2012-13 from the previous year, the student-to-computer ratio among Iowa public schools dropped to 1.4 in 2013-14, down from 4.1 in 2000-01. More schools also now have the higher internet speeds necessary for using video in class and testing online.

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