Report: Iowa students more racially diverse, taking more upper-level math and chemistry classes

DES MOINES - The number of non-white students enrolled in Iowa's public schools is at an all-time high, according to the Iowa Department of Education's annual Condition of Education report released this week.

The number of Iowa schools equipped for digital learning has also increased, according to the report, and more high-schoolers are taking higher-level math courses and chemistry compared to last year.

The annual report, which analyzes the most recent data from the 2015-2016 school year, provides an overview of the current state of public education in Iowa through several statewide data points.

'One of the critical functions of the Iowa Department of Education is to provide and interpret education data,” Iowa Department of Education Director Ryan Wise said in a statement. 'The Condition of Education report provides valuable feedback about our students, educators and school districts across a number of statewide measures.”

Highlights from the report include:

l Of 483,451 students in the state, 108,345 students - or 22.6 percent - did not identify as white in 2016, compared to 21.8 percent of students in 2015.

l The overall number of students has gone up by about 2,700 students this year. That number has increased for the past five years, after the state saw a steady 17-year decline in enrollment.

l More than 76 percent of schools have a bandwidth of at least 100 megabytes, which the state considers the minimum needed to facilitate digital learning. Less that 72 percent of schools had a bandwidth of 50 megabytes according to last year's report.

l Among students in the Class of 2016, 71 percent took a chemistry class, up from 67.4 percent, and 45.3 percent took upper-level math courses such as calculus, statistics and trigonometry, compared to 41.3 percent last year.

l Of the Class of 2016, 68 percent of students took the ACT, up from 67 percent the year before. The average composite score on the college readiness test, which is scored out of 36 points, was 22.1, down from 22.2.

l Iowa still has 'one of the top graduation rates nationally,” the report states. In the Class of 2016, 90.8 percent of students graduated from high school in four years, up from 90.5 percent the year before.

l The average pay for a teacher in Iowa increased by 2 percent, making Iowa the 23rd best state for teacher salaries, up from 25th.

l More students are taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses, but fewer school districts are offering the college-level classes. Nearly 12,450 students took an AP test in the 2015-2016 school year, up from 11,642, but only 51.3 percent of school districts offered AP courses compared to 58.2 percent in the 2006-2007 school year.

l Comments: (319) 398-8330; molly.duffy@thegazette.com