sad, Iowa ranked #30 in education

[Jambalaya]

I'm not sure, but I moved to Cedar Rapids several years back and I'd swear kids don't even go to school around here sometimes. I see high school kids out and about at all hours of the day.

It's something the cowardly politically-correct media in eastern Iowa doesn't broach

The last 10-15 yrs CR and other communities have been invaded with Section 8 inner city 'families' . i.e. single moms with illegitmate kids and the trailing males who are in and out of jail and horrible role models.

welfare = crime = truency problems = dummies = dropouts.

spin away liberals. It's a huge problem.

A month ago, there was a 40-person brawl on a historically safe street on the NW side ---it was mentioned on the FIFTH PAGE of the Gazette. Hidden away, while they ran some fluff/drama front page piece on a Lutheran church.

pathetic.

[MLawrence]

pathetic.

I saw that you posted, and I was going to think of a humorous way to blame this problem on the eastern Iowa media, but it appears that you are blaming the eastern Iowa media. Carry on.

[CyPride]

The fact that Illinois is above Iowa on that list has me pretty skeptical. I know that this is a statewide thing, but there is so much crap schooling going on in Chicago, it really should weight the system down a lot more. The burbs have some decent schools, but there are some burbs that seem pretty far behind, at least compared to what I grew up with in Iowa.

you familiar with the des moines school district?

make no excuses, our educational prowess in iowa has gone down hill. too much money spent on administration, etc, etc, etc.

has nothing to do with act v. sat and all the other excuses listed.

[iowast8fan]

In a related story, I'm very disappointed in the number of people around iowa who don't understand that my shirt is a joke with the following print: Class spelling bee champian.

Seriously had about a dozen people ask me if I really was the spelling bee champ and when i won. Sad.

[CyPride]

It's something the cowardly politically-correct media in eastern Iowa doesn't broach

The last 10-15 yrs CR and other communities have been invaded with Section 8 inner city 'families' . i.e. single moms with illegitmate kids and the trailing males who are in and out of jail and horrible role models.

welfare = crime = truency problems = dummies = dropouts.

spin away liberals. It's a huge problem.

A month ago, there was a 40-person brawl on a historically safe street on the NW side ---it was mentioned on the FIFTH PAGE of the Gazette. Hidden away, while they ran some fluff/drama front page piece on a Lutheran church.

pathetic.

no doubt that this doesn't help. same type of fights in iowa city. illinois kicked out their welfare recipients who ran out of time in their program. they came to iowa - we took them in with open arms. another program fail. political correctness at it's finest. food stamps anyone? we got 'em.

[CYclist]

[quote=Bamacyclone;2945439]

Growing up Iowa was always in the top 3-4.........now 30???? What happened?

I wouldn't lose too much sleep over these type of studies. All depends on what metrics you choose to include and weighting. Notice they include spending. From the states ranked at the top, I assure you their stategy is the more money you throw at education system, the better educated a student you get. I believe we now have many years of data showing money does not buy results directly.

Exactly!! Most studies have shows $$ spent and results obtained had no correlation. Any study that includes money in the ranking system is flawed.

[TigerCyJM]

Yes my son took algebra last year in 5th grade. Not sure about the great gatsby. Did not see him read it at home. Thanks for caring bro.

Just because your son is learning x+2=3 does not mean he is "taking algebra."
It is the name of a High School level class at all high schools, including ones with higher ranked AP programs than Norwalk. If he did in fact take this class he is an extremely advanced student because it is not commonly offered for 5th graders.

[safmusic]

Maybe this has been said already. The US used be rated #1 in most areas of education in the world and now maybe still in the top 20. You can see how the US has slipped by letting standards go to let everyone get through without learning much of anything. That is very sad.

[CyPride]

Maybe this has been said already. The US used be rated #1 in most areas of education in the world and now maybe still in the top 20. You can see how the US has slipped by letting standards go to let everyone get through without learning much of anything. That is very sad.

agree. the idea is to pass kids, keep them in school, and keep cashing the government paycheck by doing so. it's a system problem.

[Let's Go State]

This isn't a ranking that I would lean heavily on.

1- CNBC
2- it's used as a catergory to feed an overall ranking
3- CNBC

[Trainer]

Here is how to read your Iowa Assessment data

I assume this is what you were talking about....

National Grade Equivalent: A grade equivalent is a score that describes your student’s achievement on a grade level scale. The NGE is a decimal number that describes academic performance in terms of grade
level and month. For example, if your student (as a 3rd grade student) receives a NGE of 4.2 on the third grade Reading Test, this means your student scored as well as a fourth grade student in the second month of the school year if given the same third grade Reading Test.

This is hilarious. After going through 2 years of stats, and assessment classes this is one of the most commonly misinterpreted pieces of information. Parents love to brag this up, except it doesn't mean that. To be fair though, many school districts fail to correctly describe this information to students and their parents.

[Stormin]

Growing up Iowa was always in the top 3-4.........now 30???? What happened?

News Headlines

Branstad's education reforms are working as intended.

[farcyted]

You are so wrong. Most church schools subsidize anyone that wants to send their kids there. In my town, numerous hispanic kids in Catholic grade school.