Rising to Greatness

Iowa’s Department of Education publication of Rising to Greatness presents a rather bleak assessment of science education in Iowa. Today The Des Moines Register also outlined the most recent data regarding ACT science and math scores – “only 51 percent and 38 percent of Iowa test-takers, respectively, were prepared for college-level math and science classes in 2012.”

 Recent stories in the news have indicated that state and national job growth is in the areas of engineering and advanced manufacturing and in Iowa it is also expanding in agribusiness and research. These careers all need a firm ground in math and science, but Iowa is not preparing many of our students adequately in these areas.

Last year, my fifth-grade daughter received her scores on her Iowa Assessment test. She was at the top percentile in almost every area, yet her scores were markedly lower in only one area – science. How can his be? She is being well prepared in every subject but science? I am curious to find out why there is such a large discrepancy between subjects. Have we as a society failed to teach our children to start reading at home, and now schools have become overly focused on reading and have let math and especially science fall by the wayside?

DE’s findings show that Iowa’s students have essentially flat lined over the past decade, while other states’ achievement levels have increased. DE has disaggregated some of the data by community size. Iowa’s inner city and rural area test results show greater disparities than other communities. Iowa needs to work on ensuring that students across the state are receiving the same educational opportunities and that not just the more affluent areas have access to great teachers and educational programming.