Iowa education sees minimal growth

Iowa students are gaining in math, reading and science, but the overall picture is stagnant.

“I think the reality is that when you go back and look at the early 2000s, when No Child Left Behind first came into play, we did see some substantial jumps,” said Kevin Fangman, acting director of the Iowa Department of Education. “I think the last three biennium, or two-year periods, it looks like we are just maintaining and we are kind of plateauing out.”

According to the 2010 Condition of Education report, the state saw overall slight gains in reading among Iowa's fourth-, eighth- and 11th-grade students, as measured by standardized test scores. The state's fourth-grade scores increased 0.3 percent from 2007-09 to 2008-10. Iowa's eighth-graders saw a point increase and its 11th-graders a 0.5 percent increase during the same period.

The greatest increase was among the state's eighth-grade Hispanic students. This group jumped from 49.1 percent in 2007-09 to 54.1 percent in 2008-10, continuing the state's trend of narrowing the achievement gap between Iowa's minority and white students. Hispanic students also are improving in math, according to the data for 11th-grade students.

Iowa's African-American students, however, continue to fall behind as other minority groups close the achievement gap. This population saw a slight gain in eighth-grade reading comprehension, which increased 1.1 percent from 2007-09 to 2008-10, but fourth and 11th-grade scores decreased slightly.

“I do think we have plateaued,” Fangman said. “I think we have some spots where we are making progress, but it's not enough to raise our achievement up to where it needs to be.”

The state Board of Education approved the adoption of Common Core State Standards in July. Fangman said the new standards and core curriculum requirements will raise expectations and make them consistent around the state.

“Education must look forward. We do so in good times and bad,” he said, adding that even with tight budgets and spending cuts, support for education needs to be preserved.

According to the numbers, Iowa's minority population continues to increase, while the state's overall student enrollment numbers fell for the 12th consecutive year.

There were 507,662 students enrolled in the state's 361 public and 182 non-public schools during the 2009-10 school year. The total was 510,916 students the year before.

In the 2008-09 school year, there were more than 75,000 minority students enrolled in Iowa's schools, an increase of more than 75 percent in the past decade. Last year there were more than 85,000 minority students, accounting for 17.1 percent of the student body.

Also increasing is the number of students who qualify for help paying for lunches, with 28.8 percent of the state's students qualifying for free meals and 8.2 percent qualifying for reduced-price lunches last year. Iowa's largest districts report the highest percentage of students eligible for free meals.

“Just from 2008-09 to 2009-10, we have 5 percent more of our kids on free or reduced lunch, living in poverty,” Fangman said. “That amount has gone up almost double from the year 2000.”

The Cedar Rapids school district's free and reduced-price lunch average is 44.5 percent, an increase from 27.6 percent 10 years earlier.

“We are continuing to become poor, according to our free and reduced-price lunches,” Superintendent Dave Benson said.

Statistically, one out of two students in the district qualifies as poor. About 700 of its students qualify as homeless under the federal definition.