Hundreds of Iowa schools qualify for federal funds to boost student achievement

Hundreds of Iowa public schools now qualify for federal assistance to help boost their student achievement, new school performance results show.

Of Iowa's 1,293 schools, 337 have been identified by the state as part of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act as having targeted groups of students who are underachieving, according to the Iowa Department of Education's school performance results.

Additionally, 33 of Iowa's lowest-performing Title I schools and schools with graduation rates lower than 66% have been identified as needing comprehensive assistance for all students. Title I schools typically have higher percentages of students from low-income families.

The performance results are based on student test scores from the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress or the Dynamic Learning Maps test in the areas of math, English language arts and graduation rates. Iowa, like other states, is struggling with pandemic learning loss, particularly in mathematics.

During the 2018-19 school year ― the last pre-pandemic school year ― Iowa students were 70% proficient in math. Scores have held steady the last two years, when 65% of students were proficient.

This month marked the first time in three years that Iowa and schools across the country have seen a change in federal designations. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Department of Education officials gave states flexibility when it came to data reporting for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years. The data was released just days before the National Center for Education Statistics or NAEP results, the country's report card, was published.

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Number of Iowa schools needing assistance about the same as pre-pandemic

The number of Iowa schools identified as needing assistance has stayed around 25%, said Jay Pennington, the Iowa Department of Education bureau chief for information and analysis services.

“I'm pleasantly surprised, happy that we're identifying about the same number of schools," Pennington said. "I think another positive is we did see a number of cases where folks that were comprehensive in the original 2018 (numbers) exited their comprehensive status. … We also did see a number of those that exited targeted status, so they're no longer identified for anything."

Those qualifying as a comprehensive school receive three years of support from the department and the school's area education agency, said Heather Doe, the department of education spokesperson.

"This includes help identifying the causes of performance issues, strategies and interventions to put in place, and evaluation of what is working," Doe said. "Regional training sessions, district site visits, data reviews, action planning and monthly or quarterly check-ins are also provided to ensure they are on track."

Targeted schools are also eligible to receive assistance, she said.

"There's additional (federal) funding that will also be disbursed based on these designations," Pennington said. "Comprehensive schools get the most amount of money and then targeted schools -because it's not the whole school that needs improvement ― gets money as well."

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Des Moines Public Schools is seeing 'good improvement'

The comprehensive and targeted designations give schools the opportunity to look at what can be changed to help students succeed.

Des Moines Public Schools officials saw the number of schools that were deemed as comprehensive go from five to seven this year. Its targeted schools dropped by four for a total of 33 for the 2022-23 school year, said Mary Grinstead, Des Moines schools' director of assessment, data and evaluation.

Additionally, the number of schools that no longer require support went from 13 to 15.

“I think we're seeing some good improvement,” Grinstead said of Iowa's largest and most diverse school district. “Our area of needed improvement is really our secondary schools. That's where we've seen the increase in number of comprehensive supports.”

District officials are planning quarterly check-ins with Iowa Department of Education officials, conducting self-assessments at all schools, and continuing to use "high-quality curriculum" across the district, Grinstead said.

"We're gonna use those practices and tools with all of our schools regardless of their ESSA status because we believe those tools are actually best practice tools," Grinstead said.

Des Moines schools is not alone when it comes to schools qualifying for state and federal assistance.

Neighboring West Des Moines Community School District saw a slight increase in the number of targeted schools, according to state data.

In 2019, the district had five targeted schools and that number went up by two this year. Additionally, the district now has one comprehensive school, but state records indicate it is not in need of additional support.

Ankeny Community School District, which has 16 schools, saw the number of targeted schools fall from three to two.

To see your school's performance profile go to www.iaschoolperformance.gov.

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Samantha Hernandez covers education for the Register. Reach her at (515) 851-0982 or svhernandez@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @svhernandez or Facebook at facebook.com/svhernandezreporter.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Over 300 Iowa public schools qualify for funds to help student success