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?”
Blog For Iowa 
We could save money for K-12 by dumping this stupid board of regents. I have read over the years about this group of 9 or so fat cats, who are already wealthy and powerful. They apparently have the final say on hiring at our universities. What is this, some kind of make-work kepp the idle rich busy absurdity??? These meddlers are now rejecting well-qualified candidates for the position of President of the U of Iowa, to get in place one of thier cronies, someone who is “friendly to Insurance interests”. Just what we need, another CIETC-level scandal festering. I say, dump the fat cats, place university hiring responsibility in the Governors office or somesuch, and use the money saved for school maintenance and construction statewide. Just how much sucking up do we have to do to these fatcats who are anly too happy to take our money as we kowtow to them. Enough is enough!
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