While Iowa’s school system continues to rank high nationwide, it is no longer at the top in reading or math as it was in the early 1990s, according to results from a highly regarded exam called the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
“We’re not competitive,” said Des Moines businessman Marvin Pomerantz, a longtime education advocate who has criticized the results produced on Jeffrey’s watch. Pomerantz even threatened to sue the state last fall over what he called a failure to provide an adequate education for all children.
“We don’t win when we compete with other kids and countries,” he said. “We used to win. We were best in the nation. Now we’re not the best.”
Results from the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress, published last fall, showed that seven states had children who ranked above Iowans in fourth-grade math, four did better in fourth-grade reading, seven ranked higher in eighth-grade math and three scored better in eighth-grade reading. Nearly half the nation’s students recorded average scores similar to Iowa’s, according to the report.