Iowa Schools

    Iowa ranks 14 out of 50 in Morgan Quinto’s “Education State Rankings 2005-06”. Quinto’s rankings are based on student performance, personal attention from teachers, and positive outcomes rather than putting a high emphasis on per student spending. Iowa had about 500,000 K-12 students enrolled in public and private schools in 2006, and a student to teacher ratio of 13.8, giving the state the high ranking.

As part of the 2001 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act Iowa is doing all it can to identify schools that need improvement and designate federal funding to those schools. In 2005, Iowa identified 94 schools (6.1%) and 14 districts that need improvement based on test scores. Only 37.5% of students in Iowa, about 181,000, attend Title I schools—schools that are in low-income areas or are not meeting NCLB minimum requirements and need improvement. For information on individual schools, visit Iowa’s Department of Education website, http://www.iowa.gov/educate.

However, Iowa’s 2006 seniors ranked third in the country—after Minnesota and Wisconsin—in ACT scores. Iowa’s composite ACT score (22.1) was one point higher than the nation’s average (21.1). Iowa’s number of seniors taking the test also stayed well above the national average. Iowa tested 65% of graduating seniors, 25 percentage points higher than the national average of 40% of seniors taking the ACTs.

Iowa spent $4 billion on education in 2005, or about $8300 per student. This ranks Iowa about average in per-student spending. However, the high test scores, the low number of schools and districts needing improvement, and small classroom size helped Iowa gain its rank of 14 of 50.