Iowa School Performance Profiles

The reports, called the Iowa School Performance Profiles, include each school’s scores on a set of accountability measures. The reports display scores based on a school’s overall performance, as well as the performance of subgroups of students, such as children from low-income backgrounds.

Identification of Iowa Schools for support and improvement is based on these measures:

• Student Participation on State Assessments: Requires a minimum of 95% of a school's enrollment participate in annual state assessments.
• Academic Achievement (measures the following):
  • Proficiency: Percentage of students in a school who are proficient in math and reading based on assessment results.
  • Average Scale Score: Information about the average performance of students in reading and mathematics in a school.
• Student Growth: Measures overall student growth by looking at student percentiles and determining whether the student is meeting or exceeding growth targets.
• Graduation Rate (high schools): Determines percentage of students who graduate from high school in four or five years.
• Progress in Achieving English Language Proficiency: Measures a student's progress in obtaining English language proficiency across the domains of reading, writing, listening and speaking.
• Conditions of Learning: Measures a school's safety, engagement and environment based on a survey of students in grades 5 through 12.
• Postsecondary Readiness (high schools): Includes student participation and scores on college entrance exams, participation in postsecondary or advanced coursework, and percentage of students who are CTE concentrators. 

The new accountability system emphasizes student growth as measured by results on state assessments from year to year. This approach was based on feedback from Iowans who wanted a change from a previous federal accountability system that emphasized proficiency.

NOTE: The Iowa School Performance Profiles are different from the Iowa School Report Card, developed in 2015 to meet a state legislative requirement. In 2019, the Iowa Department of Education will work to update data in the Iowa School Report Card and then merge the site with the Iowa School Performance Profiles. The goal is to ensure the state has one report card that meets both state and federal requirements.

Source IDE News Release and websites 12-18-18.