March 28, 2024

Jasper County’s reading rankings lacking

According to the National Council on Teacher Training, “Evaluations of teacher effectiveness grounded in student outcomes provide states with opportunities to improve teacher policy and teacher practice. Teachers should not be able to receive satisfactory evaluation ratings if they are not effective in the classroom. Without high-quality teacher evaluations as a strong foundation, states like Iowa are unable to ‘connect the dots’ and use results in meaningful ways to inform policy and practice.” In Iowa: “Elementary teacher candidates are not required to pass a content test with individually scored subtests in each of the core content areas, including mathematics.

Elementary teacher candidates are not required to pass a science of reading test to ensure knowledge of effective reading instruction, and preparation programs are not required to address this critical topic... Objective evidence of student learning is not the preponderant criterion of teacher evaluations… [T]he state does not ensure that its elementary teacher candidates are adequately prepared to teach the rigorous content associated with these standards.”

With the 2014-2015 school year just beginning, here is what the past year showed for student reading proficiencies, ranking Iowa school districts (within Iowa) according to how well they did on the Iowa Assessments using the pathetically-low 41st NPR. Baxter’s 4th-graders ranked 12th, Colfax/Mingo’s 4th-graders ranked 36th, PCM’s 4th-graders ranked 44th, Lynnville/Sully’s 4th-graders ranked 202, Newton’s 4th-graders ranked 245. The NAEP exams, based on grade-level 65th NPR showed only 38 percent of Iowa 4th-graders reading at proficiency or above. Fourteen states were higher.

Lynnville/Sully’s 8th-graders ranked 1st, Colfax/Mingo’s 8th-graders ranked 144, Newton’s 8th-graders ranked 149, PCM’s 8th-graders ranked 163, Baxter’s 8th-graders ranked 275. NAEP exams showed only 37 percent of Iowa’s 8th-graders reading at grade-level proficiency. Nineteen states were higher.

Lynnville/Sully’s 11th-graders ranked 14th, PCM’s 11th-graders ranked 41st, Newton’s 11th-graders ranked 174, Baxter’s 11th-graders ranked 191, Colfax/Mingo’s 11th-graders ranked 258th. NAEP exams showed only 40 percent of Iowa 12th-graders reading at grade-level proficiency.

Iowa schools are implementing reading programs that contain all five reading concepts, but are failing to educate students up to the 65th NPR grade level because of poor teacher training that needs to make up for the failed teacher training programs in the state, as well as a lack of state standards and licensing testing. This is absolutely not the fault of poor defenseless students, being denied the education to which they have a right; the fault lies with curriculum and teacher training.