Will Iowa Reclaim Education Leadership?
By the Iowa Policy Project

As Iowa's investment in public education declined over a 13-year period, the stateʼs position as a leader in student achievement also declined, a new report shows. “Actions taken by the 2006 General Assembly began to reverse this trend on the investment side, but have taken only a first step to address this decline in investment, and the new Legislature has major challenges before it,” said Charles Bruner, executive director of the Child & Family Policy Center (CFPC) and co-author of the new report for the nonpartisan Iowa Fiscal Partnership (IFP).

The report shows that, from 1992 to 2005, Iowa dropped from second to 19th among states on fourth-grade reading proficiency as measured by the widely quoted National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and from first to 13th on eighth-grade mathematics proficiency. In both areas Iowa remained slightly above the U.S. average.

To better understand the performance of Iowa's relatively homogeneous population in comparison with students in other states, the report shows the NAEP breakdown for white students. By those measures, Iowaʼs rank has dropped from sixth to 35th in fourth-grading reading among white students, and from first to 26th in eighth-grade math among white students. “Without strong corrective action, Iowa could be in a position where the stateʼs educational system is considered a detriment, rather than an asset, in seeking to attract new workers and businesses,” Bruner said.

In their report, “No Longer a Leader?” Bruner and CFPC senior associate Mike Crawford examine changes over time in Iowaʼs spending on K-12 education and available data on student achievement through various test scoring systems, particularly NAEP, but also the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and college-entrance tests. “The report raises two important questions for Iowa policymakers,” Crawford said. “First, is it reasonable to be concerned that our decline in investment has affected achievement? And second, should we assure a greater commitment to education in Iowa?”