Johnston - EdTribune IA - Iowa Education Data

Iowa's White-Black Graduation Gap Is 15 Points -- And It Hasn't Budged

Fri, 15 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT

This is part of the Iowa Graduation Rate series, examining trends in the Class of 2019-2024.

Iowa's statewide graduation rate returned to 88% in 2024, matching its pre-pandemic level for the first time since 2019. By the most visible metric, the state has recovered.

But the white-Black graduation gap tells a different story. At 15 points, the gap between white students (91%) and Black students (76%) is almost exactly where it was six years ago. It has bounced between 15 and 19 points every year since 2019, with no discernible trend toward closing.

The persistence is the point. Iowa's overall recovery was real but narrow -- driven by the white majority, which makes up 74% of the graduating cohort. Black students, who represent 6% of graduates, saw their rate climb from 74% to 76% over six years. That 2-point gain was real but too small to close a gap that was already in the mid-teens.

Six years of stasis

Class of	White	Black	Gap
2019	90.6%	73.9%	16.7pp
2020	91.5%	75.5%	16.1pp
2021	90.5%	73.4%	17.1pp
2022	90.6%	72.1%	18.5pp
2023	90.4%	75.0%	15.4pp
2024	91.2%	75.8%	15.4pp

The gap peaked at 19 points for the Class of 2022 -- the cohort most affected by pandemic-era disruption in their sophomore and junior years. It narrowed to 15 points by 2023 and held there in 2024. But "narrowing from the pandemic peak" is not the same as progress. The 2024 gap of 15 points is only slightly better than the 2019 gap of 17 points.

Not the widest gap, but the most stubborn

The white-Black gap is Iowa's third-widest equity divide after Native American students (23 points below white) and special education students (21 points below white). But those other gaps have moved, for better or worse. The Native American gap widened sharply. The special education gap has fluctuated.

The white-Black gap is distinct in its consistency. A 15-to-19-point range, year after year, suggests a set of conditions that are deeply embedded and resistant to the interventions Iowa has tried.

Where it plays out

Iowa's Black student population is concentrated in a handful of districts. The graduation data for Black students in 2024 reveals sharp differences by community:

In Waukee, Black students graduated at 98% -- essentially matching the district's overall rate. In Johnston, 94%. These suburban districts serve relatively small Black cohorts (58 and 66 students, respectively) in communities with high overall graduation rates.

The picture reverses in urban cores. In Des Moines, the largest Black cohort in the state at 463 students, the rate was 67%. In Waterloo, 68%. In Burlington, 59%. In Dubuque, 63%.

The district-level data suggests that the statewide gap is driven primarily by urban districts where Black students are concentrated and where graduation challenges affect all demographic groups. In Des Moines, white students graduate at 77% -- well below the state white average of 91%.

The gender dimension

Statewide, female students graduated at 90% and males at 87% -- a 3-point gap. Among Black students, the gender pattern likely amplifies the racial gap, as Black males nationally graduate at lower rates than Black females. Iowa's data does not publish a Black-male or Black-female cross-tabulation at the state level, but the gender gap within Des Moines (75% female vs. 68% male) hints at the compounding effect.

What 15 points means in practice

Iowa graduated 1,823 Black students in 2024, out of a cohort of 2,405. At 76%, roughly 582 Black students in Iowa did not graduate on time.

If Black students graduated at the white rate of 91%, approximately 365 fewer Black students would have failed to earn their diplomas. That is an additional 365 students per year -- enough to fill a small high school -- whose outcomes are shaped by a gap that has barely moved in six years.

The Iowa Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment.

Detailed code that reproduces the analysis and figures in this article is available exclusively to EdTribune subscribers.

Des Moines Has Lost 5 Points Since 2019 — The State Capital's Graduation Slide

Fri, 08 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT

This is part of the Iowa Graduation Rate series, examining trends in the Class of 2019-2024.

Des Moines Independent, the largest school district in Iowa, graduated 71% of its students in 2024. Five years earlier, it was 76%.

The decline has been steady and unrelenting. Not a single year since 2019 has matched the pre-pandemic rate. While Iowa's statewide graduation rate recovered to 88% -- exactly where it was before COVID -- the state capital has moved in the opposite direction.

The numbers land differently when you drive 15 minutes west. West Des Moines graduated 90% of its students. Waukee graduated 97%. Johnston graduated 97%.

The gap between Des Moines and its suburbs is not a new phenomenon, but it has widened. The distance between Des Moines at 71% and Johnston at 97% is 26 percentage points -- meaning a student's odds of graduating on time shift dramatically depending on which side of a district boundary they live on.

A metro divided

The Des Moines metro tells a story about geography and resources. The five districts serving the metro area produced graduation rates spanning 26 points in 2024:

District	Graduation Rate	Cohort Size
Johnston	97.4%	575
Waukee	97.1%	908
Ankeny	94.7%	893
West Des Moines	89.6%	737
Des Moines	71.4%	2,369

Des Moines serves more students than the other four combined. Its cohort of 2,369 is the largest in the state, meaning the district's struggles affect more students than any other single entity in Iowa.

Inside the numbers

Des Moines' overall rate masks even wider gaps among subgroups. Special education students graduated at 43% -- 27 points below the district average and 45 points below the state average. English learners graduated at 57%. Economically disadvantaged students -- who make up 83% of the cohort -- graduated at 67%.

The racial gaps within Des Moines are substantial. White students graduated at 77%, below the state average but well above the district's Black students at 67% and Hispanic students at 67%.

Males graduated at 68% compared to 75% for females -- a 7-point gender gap that mirrors the statewide pattern but is more pronounced in Des Moines.

How Des Moines compares to other cities

Des Moines' 71% rate is the lowest among Iowa's major urban districts. Cedar Rapids, the second-largest city, graduated 79%. Davenport graduated 78%. Even Waterloo, which faces many of the same demographic challenges, graduated 74%.

Iowa City, home to the University of Iowa, graduated 91% -- higher than the state average and 20 points above Des Moines. Council Bluffs, Sioux City, and Cedar Rapids all outperform the capital.

The comparison with Iowa City is instructive because it illustrates how much context matters. Iowa City's student body is shaped by a university community with high educational expectations. Des Moines serves the broadest cross-section of the state's urban population, including large communities of refugees and recent immigrants.

A trajectory with no inflection point

What distinguishes Des Moines' pattern is the absence of recovery. Other Iowa cities dipped during the pandemic and bounced back. Cedar Rapids dropped from 77% to 76% in 2021 and climbed to 79% by 2024. Davenport recovered from its COVID low. Sioux City bounced back to 87%.

Des Moines dropped from 76% in 2019 to 72% in 2020 and has stayed between 71% and 72% ever since. Four consecutive years of essentially flat performance at a depressed level suggests a structural challenge, not a temporary setback.

With a cohort of 2,369 students, the gap between Des Moines' 71% and the state average of 88% represents roughly 400 students per year who start ninth grade in the state capital and do not graduate on time.

Des Moines Independent did not respond to a request for comment.

Detailed code that reproduces the analysis and figures in this article is available exclusively to EdTribune subscribers.