DES MOINES — The Iowa Department of Education released new spring 2024 assessment results from the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP) for students in grades 3-11. State-level results from the spring 2024 ISASP show student achievement reaching or exceeding pre-pandemic levels across most grade levels in both English language arts and mathematics.

Significant proficiency gaps remain among students with disabilities and students who are English language learners in both English language arts and mathematics. In English language arts, the overall results show modest long-term progress with some grades showing significant gains. In mathematics, the overall long-term results remain steady and do not show meaningful progress in most grade levels.

“We celebrate the successes of our learners, and we continue to work in partnership with families and educators to provide all students what they need to meet high expectations and realize their incredible potential,” said Iowa Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow. “Informed by our student achievement data, we reaffirm our commitment to strengthening early literacy and narrowing and closing achievement gaps experienced by students with disabilities and students who are English language learners.”

The data shows significant proficiency gaps between overall student results and specific student groups. Students with disabilities and students who are English learners experienced much lower proficiency rates than their classmates, with average differences across grade levels of 45 and 53 percentage points in English language arts, respectively. The average proficiency gaps in mathematics for students with disabilities and students who are English learners are 41 and 45 percentage points, respectively.

Long-term results in English language arts, proficiency increased across grades 4-8, with significant gains between 7 and 8 percentage points in grades 6-8 since 2019. The results show modest proficiency decreases in grade 3, informing Iowa’s focus on evidence-based early literacy instruction, as well as in grades 9-11 since 2019. When compared to last year, English language arts proficiency rates improved or remained steady across all grade levels with the exception of grade 3.

Long-term results in mathematics, proficiency increased across grades 3, 5-6, and 8, with a significant gain of 5 percentage points in grades 3 since 2019. The results show modest proficiency decreases in grade 4 and 10, with a significant decrease of 7 percentage points in grade 9, informing Iowa’s focus on Algebra I in grade 9 in its new mathematics academic standards. Mathematics proficiency rates show relatively little to no growth across most grades when compared to last year, with some grade levels up a percentage point and other grades down a percentage point.

The ISASP is administered each spring and is the general summative accountability assessment in Iowa that meets the requirements of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The assessment reflects what’s being taught in Iowa classrooms and how students are progressing toward grade-level expectations outlined in Iowa’s academic standards. The ISASP helps teachers understand where students are succeeding and where they may need more help. Iowa’s state summative assessment participation rate was 99 percent in 2023-24 and 2022-23 and 98 percent in 2021-22 and 2020-21, ensuring that the results yielded a true picture of student performance.

As part of statewide efforts to improve student proficiency, and for the first time in over a decade, the Iowa State Board of Education adopted new academic standards for mathematics in April and new academic standards in English language arts in June.  The standards, which outline what students must learn in order to be prepared for success as they progress each year and after high school, were revised to ensure they are rigorous, content-rich and align with best practices. In over two dozen sessions this summer, the Department provided professional learning to support the implementation of the standards in the 2024-25 school year to nearly 2,000 mathematics educators and over 1,300 English language arts educators.

The standards were reviewed and revised by a team consisting of elementary and secondary educators, administrators and area education agency partners, representatives from institutions of higher education, community members including parents and industry, and content experts from the Iowa Department of Education. State law requires an ongoing review of Iowa’s academic standards, including public comment, to ensure content is current and aligns with best practices.

The spring 2023-24 ISASP state-level results, which include graphs and charts, can be found on the Iowa Department of Education website.

DES MOINES — Consistent above-normal rainfall during the summer months slowed in August, leading to a return of dry conditions, according to the latest Water Summary Update.

August’s preliminary statewide precipitation was 3.20 inches, or 0.93 inches below normal. At the end of August, Iowa’s Drought Plan showed overall drought conditions have remained mostly stable for the state. However, the decrease in precipitation has led to a return of dry conditions.

The U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) shows nearly 40 percent of the state carrying abnormally dry designations, with areas of western and northeast Iowa seeing the biggest change. This trend could turn worse if the dryness of August extends into the fall months.

Temperatures for the month were near normal, with the summer months of June, July and August averaging 72.0 degrees statewide. The preliminary precipitation totals for that same period were 13.75 inches, or 0.19 inches above normal.

Despite the dry conditions, the state has received more than 38 inches of rain in the past 12 months, which is a foot more than what the state saw between September 2022 and August 2023.

“The Iowa Drought Plan rates statewide drought conditions as normal, although the month of August was drier than usual. As we move into September we would expect to get less than an inch of rain per week, with average rainfall continuing to drop through the rest of the year.  It is important that we continue to see normal precipitation through the fall and into the winter months,” said Tim Hall, the DNR’s Hydrology Resources Coordinator. “We are to the point now where rainfall will begin to build up next year’s soil moisture and groundwater, so a wetter than normal fall would be great to see. If conditions remain dry, we could have issues going into 2025.”

For a thorough review of Iowa’s water resource trends, visit

 www.iowadnr.gov/watersummaryupdate.

By O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa)

State Auditor Rob Sand says a recently dismissed University of Iowa employee “pocketed nearly a million dollars” by using public equipment and public employees for his own business. Brian Busch was the manager of the Department of Physics and Astronomy Machine Shop.

“He would have employees handle the work on university-owned machines while on the university’s clock,” Sand said during a news conference in his statehouse office, “but $943,000 worth of payments…ended up in his own bank accounts.”

The Machine Shop fixed equipment and made parts for experiments, but Sand told reporters the Physics Department also used the expensive tools and equipment in the Machine Shop to fulfill orders from other departments on campus. “What it fundamentally came down to is at the end of the day Mr. Busch had public employees and public equipment doing work for him, instead of doing work for the university,” Sand said.

Busch was placed on administrative leave in 2021, but was not fired until last Wednesday when the auditor’s office presented its report to University of Iowa officials. Sand said keeping Busch on the university’s payroll for three years wouldn’t have been his choice due to warning signs. In 2019, the university had Busch repay over $3500 for work done on campus for his own company.

“They did not do an internal review of conflict of interest policies or heighten review of Busch’s future transactions at the Machine Shop,” Sand said. “Busch had not noted the company, D3T, on the conflict of interest forms that he had been required to fill out with the university.”

Sand’s office has been working with a federal agency that’s been investigating the allegations, as well as the Iowa City Police. Under state law, Sand said there are a few months left to sue Busch or file criminal charges in state court and a couple of years before the federal statute of limitations expires.

“The whistleblowers in this case provided much of the information needed to investigate it, including text messages with Brian Busch that are detailed in our report and photographs,” Sand said. “The report is about 300 pages. This is a big one.”

According to the audit, Busch was having university staff do work for a company called Xometry, but directed Xometry’s payments into his personal bank account and an account linked to his business. The University of Iowa has issued a written statement, saying it is attempting to recoup the wages paid to Busch and two other employees while they were on paid leave. The statement begins by saying the University of Iowa “is committed to managing its resources responsibly.” University officials say they requested a state audit and immediately took other steps when they first learned of the allegations against Busch.