Iowa can’t stand still

The Gazette, Cedar Rapids: Reinforcement of the call for education reform in Iowa arrived recently: the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress scores. The report backs up what some political and education leaders have been telling us: Iowa has slipped to the middle of the pack in student achievement in two basic measures vital to success: reading and math.

What’s more, while the nation as a whole is trending up, Iowa scores for students in grades 4 and 8 are essentially flat over the period from 2003 to 2011. While Iowa students aren’t doing worse and still are slightly better than the national average, we’re on the verge of being passed.

The NAEP report, while certainly not the defining measure of all student achievement, is an evidence-based reminder that Iowa’s education system can’t stand still.

The NAEP is the largest continuing measure of student progress and the only one that compares states. It uses the same standards for everyone. And it employs a tougher measure of student proficiency than the one Iowa uses to meet the federal No Child Left Behind requirements.