Press Release
February 11, 2025
Contact: Sam Stockwell
samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu
617.495.0342
Iowa Ranked 24th Among States in Math Recovery and 16th in Reading Between 2019 and 2024
Students in Iowa remain almost half a grade level behind 2019 levels on average in math and close to 40% of a grade level behind in reading.
Chronic absenteeism has risen sharply in Iowa, from 13% of students in 2019 to 26% in 2022, significantly slowing recovery efforts in some districts.
(February 11, 2025) In its third year of reporting on the pace of academic recovery measures in districts nationwide, the Education Recovery Scorecard (a collaboration between the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University) is issuing its annual report on district-level student growth in math and reading.
The latest report also provides the first high resolution picture of where Iowa students’ academic recovery stood in Spring 2024, just before federal relief dollars expired in September. While the National Assessment of Educational Progress described changes in average achievement by state, we combine those scores with district scores on state assessments to describe the change in local communities throughout Iowa. Here’s what we found:
- Iowa ranked 24th among states in terms of recovery in math and 16th in reading between 2019 and 2024, yet in the period between 2022 and 2024, the state ranked last in the nation in math recovery and 28th in reading.
- Students in Iowa remain almost half a grade level behind 2019 levels on average in math (.45 grade equivalents) and close to 40% of a grade level behind in reading (.39 grade level equivalents). In other words, the loss in math achievement in Iowa is greater than 45 percent of the progress students typically make annually between grades 4 through grade 8.
- The average student in some districts, such as Ankeny, Waukee, Johnston, Iowa City, and Davenport remains at least a grade equivalent below their 2019 mean achievement in math; the same is true for reading in Waukee, Bettendorf, and Cedar Rapids.
- Reading and math are both concerns in Iowa, as 82% percent of students are in districts whose average math achievement in 2024 remained below their own 2019 levels and 87% are in districts whose average reading achievement in 2024 remained below their own 2019 levels, reflecting a national trend. Nationally, 85 percent of students are in districts below 2019 levels in math, with only 15 percent above. Similarly, 89 percent of students are in districts below 2019 levels in reading, with only 11 percent above.
- Still, there are bright spots: mean achievement has recovered to 2019 levels for students in College Community and Waterloo Community (in math) and Pleasant Valley Community (in reading).
- A sharp rise in chronic absenteeism (students missing more than 10 percent of a school year) from 13% percent of students in 2019 before the pandemic to 26% percent in 2022 (now down to 22% in 2024) is slowing the recovery in many districts in Iowa.
- Iowa received nearly $1.2 billion in federal pandemic relief for K-12 schools—or roughly $2,300 per student—which is less than the national average of $3700 per student. Nationally, our analysis suggests that the dollars did contribute to the academic recovery, especially when targeted at academic catch-up efforts such as summer learning and tutoring.
The federal pandemic relief dollars may be gone, but the pandemic’s impact lingers in many Iowa schools. Even without federal relief dollars, states could be targeting continuing federal Title I dollars and state dollars to implement interventions which have been shown effective, such as tutoring and summer learning. State leaders, mayors, employers and other community leaders should join schools to redouble efforts on the shared challenge of reducing student absenteeism.
One of the project leaders, Professor Tom Kane at Harvard, said: “Tackling absenteeism is one of the few things that mayors, employers and other community leaders can do to help students recover.”
For the national press release and findings click here.
About the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University
The Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, seeks to transform education through quality research and evidence. CEPR and its partners believe all students will learn and thrive when education leaders make decisions using facts and findings, rather than untested assumptions. Learn more at cepr.harvard.edu.
Contact: Sam Stockwell, samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu, (617) 495-0342