Iowa students beat math, reading averages

CEDAR RAPIDS - Fourth- and eighth-grade students overall in Iowa are more proficient in math and reading than their peers elsewhere in the United States, according to results of a national test released Wednesday.

But state officials say there's more work to do to ensure poor and minority students stop falling behind in those subjects.

Results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a biannual test administered to a representative sample of students throughout the country, shows that while average math and reading test scores for fourth- and eighth-grade students in Iowa didn't decline statewide from 2013 to 2015, they didn't improve, either. But Iowa students still performed better than the national average.

Students at U.S. public and private schools have taken the NAEP every two years since the early 1990s. The exam is the country's most consistent measure of kindergarten-through-grade-12 progress, and because it has been in place for so long, it can offer insight into the effects of demographic and policy changes.

This year, 300,000 students took the tests nationwide.

Fourth- and eighth-graders across the United States lost ground on national mathematics tests this year, the first declines in scores since the federal government began administering the exams in 1990.

Reading performance nationally also was sobering: Eighth-grade scores dropped, according to results released Wednesday, while fourth-grade performance was stagnant compared with 2013.

And the tests again show large achievement gaps between the nation's white and minority students as well as between poor and affluent children. It's an indication that the nation's disadvantaged students are not gaining ground, despite more than a decade of federal law designed to boost their achievement.

But researchers cautioned that more analysis is needed to understand the potential causes of this year's drop. And they said it's too soon to tell whether the results are the beginning of a trend or just a blip.

Scores have risen considerably since the first exams in the 1990s and, despite this year's declines, still are among the highest posted by American students.

‘Work left to do'

While Iowa test results remained flat statewide from 2013, fourth- and eighth-grade Iowa students still scored a few points higher than the national average on the reading and math tests. Nationwide, 39 percent of fourth-grade students and 32 percent of eighth-grade students were deemed math proficient, compared with the 44 percent of fourth-grade Iowans and 37 percent of eighth grade Iowans.

The results also showed 38 percent of fourth-grade Iowans and 36 percent of Iowan eighth-graders are proficient in reading, compared with 35 percent and 33 percent nationally.

'I think the results make it clear we still have work left to do in Iowa,” said Ryan Wise, the director of the Iowa Department of Education. 'We're clearly not where we want to be overall in terms of student achievement.”

While Iowa students scored better among their peers nationwide in reading and math proficiency, the achievement gap in the state was wider than the national average. For example, white eighth-grade students scored 37 points higher on math tests than their black peers. The national average showed white eighth-graders scoring 31 points higher than black eighth graders.

But Wise said the state is working to close achievement gaps and boost reading and mathematics proficiency in Iowa.

'That's another area where there's work left to be done and where we need to improve,” Wise said. 'Clearly, the gaps are unacceptable.”

The state recently launched programs that include the Teacher Leadership and Compensation System that aims to reward effective teachers with leadership opportunities and higher pay. Wise estimates 25 percent of the state's teachers will be placed in leadership roles, saying the program will strengthen best practices in teaching and improve student learning.

The state also has put more emphasis on early literacy programs, such as designing an 'early warning system” that detects challenges students may have in reading before they become problems, and working to develop intensive summer reading programs, Wise said.

The highest-scoring state in three of the four tests was Massachusetts, which often has topped NAEP rankings. Minnesota, New Hampshire and Vermont also were top performers this year. New Mexico and Mississippi were among the lowest-scoring.