| Vital Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Public schools | 1,491 |
| Public school teachers | 34,791 |
| Pre-K-12 students | 481,226 |
| Annual pre-K-12 expenditures | $3.7 billion |
| Minority students | 12% |
| Children in poverty | 12% |
| Students with disabilities | 13.3% |
| English-language learners | 3.2% |
Summary of Grades
Iowa scores above the national average on two of the four graded categories of education policy in Quality Counts and at the national average in teacher quality. But it is last in the nation for standards and accountability.
Iowa receives by far the lowest grade of any state in standards and accountability. Iowa is the only state that has not adopted state standards in any of the four core subjects. The state also loses points on the assessment indicators because it lacks assessments aligned to state standards.
Iowa fares better in teacher quality, partly because the state does very well on indicators related to professional support and training for teachers. It is one of only 15 states to require and finance mentoring for all novice teachers.
In the school climate category, Iowa ranks above average. It performs particularly well on indicators related to engagement, class size, and school size. A far higher percentage of students in the state attend smaller schools than in the nation as a whole. Class size in Iowa’s elementary schools is also below the national average.
Iowa receives one of the highest grades in the nation on resource equity. Its score on the wealth-neutrality measure indicates that poorer districts in Iowa receive about the same amount of per-pupil funding as wealthier districts.
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| Quality Counts Grading Breakdown | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Note: Details may not sum to totals due to rounding.
