Science scores spring up to prepandemic levels on Iowa assessments, as math scores sag

Samantha Hernandez
Des Moines Register

Science scores for Iowa's elementary and middle school students have rebounded to prepandemic levels, new statewide testing shows.

But math scores declined during the height of the pandemic, while early literacy improved, according to the latest Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress.

“We are moving in the right direction in many areas, but there is still work to be done," Iowa Department of Education Director Ann Lebo said.

The largely encouraging results, released Wednesday by the Iowa Department of Education, show test scores for the 2021-22 school year rose for students in fifth, eighth and 10th grade.

The spring tests focus on the areas of math, science and English language arts and are given to students in third through eighth grades, as well as those in 10th and 11th grades.

School officials are expected to use the results to help direct more resources to areas of concern and reach students who fell behind during the pandemic.

The tests were not given during the 2019-20 school year because the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools. 

Science scores for the 2021-22 school year show 60% of fifth-graders tested proficient, meaning they were at or above grade level. For eighth-graders, 67% were proficient, with 64% of 10th-grade students proficient.

Statewide science scores for the 2018-19 school year (before the pandemic) show 51% proficiency for fifth-graders, 58% for eighth-graders and 63% for 10th-graders.

More:Iowa's largest school district filled nearly all open teaching positions. How did Des Moines do it?

Not all Iowa test scores increased

Not all scores have begun to recover from the last two years of learning affected by the pandemic. 

English language arts scores for 11th-graders fell 4 percentage points from last year.

And while math scores increased for third- through seventh-grade students, eighth- and 10th-grade students saw a 1 percentage point drop in proficiency, ninth-grade students saw a 2 percentage point decrease and 11th-grade students saw their results decline 5 percentage points compared with last year.

Des Moines school bus driver Jim Booker drops off students at McCombs middle school in Des Moines, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021.

Districts work to help students recover from disrupted learning

The new data offers school districts insight on how to continue to help students recover from disrupted learning during the pandemic, Lebo said.

Related:Iowa students' early literacy scores rebound, math scores dip after school year marred by COVID-19

"This crucial data will help schools with their improvement planning, target relief funds to address high-need areas and recapture the growth Iowa students experienced prior to the pandemic," Lebo said.

Education advocates agree the scores show that students are moving in the right direction and that interventions, many funded by federal COVID-19 relief funds, are helping. That funding will end in 2024. 

"The results of the Spring 2022 Statewide Assessment of Student Progress show that despite the challenges of the pandemic, not all progress was lost during the pandemic, but some significant areas of concern remain, said Sen. Claire Celsi, D-Des Moines, who serves on the Senate Education committee.

She called on Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Republican-controlled Legislature to increase funding to public schools, particularly in light of teacher and substitute shortages. 

"Without this commitment, the learning loss may never be fully recovered," Celsi said. 

Related:Iowa's largest school district filled nearly all open teaching positions. How did Des Moines do it?

Others praised administrators and staff for their work throughout the pandemic to keep students learning. 

Iowa State Education Association President Mike Beranek applauded teachers for navigating the pandemic, meeting student needs, dealing with the current political climate and coping with staffing shortages.  

“Our educators were feeling very stressed, but they continued to provide some of the highest quality education that is available in our country,” he said.

Lisa Remy, executive director of the School Administrators of Iowa, called the results encouraging but said people need to remember that teachers and administrators faced many challenges over the past few years, including teaching online, reopening schools and uncertainties caused by COVID. 

“We can't say ,‘Hey, we've made it. We've arrived and we're done,’” Remy said. “We need to continue looking at individual needs, and we know that when we look at data and you look at (it as a) whole, that doesn't tell you the full story.”

Recovery uneven for Des Moines schools

Scores for Des Moines Public Schools continue to lag behind the state in English language arts and math, but the testing results show students' scores have improved since the 2018-19 school year. 

Des Moines schools' 10th-grade students saw one of the larger increases in proficiency since 2018-19, when 44% of students were proficient. That increased to 55% in 2020-21 and 59% last school year.

Despite gains, Des Moines students' proficiency in math continues to lag behind the district's prepandemic numbers and the state's. 

Kids walk towards their classrooms before the first day of school at Delaware Elementary Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022 in Des Moines.

During the 2018-19 school year, 52% of Des Moines eighth-grade students were proficient in math. That dropped to 43% during the 2020-21 school year and 39% last year. 

Statewide, 72% of eighth-grade students were proficient in math in 2018-19, 69% in 2020-21 and 67% last school year.

"The good news in the data is that — across grades 5, 8 and 10 — we not only saw student growth in the areas of English and science, but proficiency levels in those subjects now actually (are) higher than they were pre-pandemic," Des Moines Public Schools spokesman Phil Roeder said.

"Unfortunately, the same trend was not seen in math, which seems to be a subject area that was more impacted by the pandemic interruptions of the 2020-21 school year."

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.