DES MOINES — The Iowa Department of Education today released new spring 2022  assessment results from the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress for Iowa public school students in grades 3-11. The results show signs of recovery and progress with the majority of grades improving from the previous year. 

State-level results from the 2021-22 Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP) demonstrate proficiency gains in many grades with English language arts performance mainly returning to pre-pandemic levels in grades 3-8. Eleventh grade results declined the most from last year, dropping four percentage points. 

The ISASP results in mathematics increased in grades 3-7. Both grades 8 and 10 experienced a one-percentage point decrease, while grade 9 had a two-percentage point decrease in the percent of students scoring proficient when compared to last year. Eleventh grade results declined five percentage points. Science, which is assessed in grades 5, 8 and 10, exceeded pre-pandemic levels in all three grades.

“This data reflects Iowa educators’ commitment to addressing the individual needs of their students and how the use of evidence-based supports can help students grow and flourish,” said Iowa Department of Education Director Ann Lebo. “We are moving in the right direction in many areas, but there is still work to be done. 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.”

The ISASP is administered each spring and is the summative accountability assessment in Iowa that meets the requirements of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The ISASP reflects what’s being taught in Iowa classrooms and how students are progressing toward grade-level expectations outlined in Iowa’s academic standards. This makes the ISASP one measure that helps teachers understand where students are succeeding and where they may need more help. 

State assessments play an important role in advancing educational equity, identifying student needs and targeting the resources to address them. This data exists because the vast majority of students over the past two years participated in the ISASP. Iowa’s participation rate for the ISASP was 98 percent in 2020-21 and 97 percent in 2021-22, ensuring that the results yielded a true picture of student performance. 

The spring 2021-2022 ISASP Proficiency Rates by District and Grade is available on the Education Statistics web page under “Student Performance”.