Waterloo
Five Districts, 27% of the Problem: Iowa's Chronic Absence Concentration
Correction (July 20, 2026): An earlier version said 327 districts reported data, described a nine-year concentration trend when district K-12 records are available for four years, and understated both...
The Suburban-Urban Divide: West Des Moines at 90%, Des Moines at 71%
Correction (July 23, 2026): An earlier version said Des Moines serves more students than the six suburban districts combined; those suburbs enroll more students than Des Moines. It also said Iowa City...
The Special Ed Gap Is 18 Points -- Iowa's Most Persistent Equity Divide
Special education students in Iowa graduated at 70% in 2024. The statewide average was 88%. The 18-point gap between the two is the widest equity divide in Iowa's graduation data after Native American...
Iowa's White-Black Graduation Gap Is 15 Points -- And It Hasn't Budged
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.
Des Moines Has Lost 5 Points Since 2019 — The State Capital's Graduation Slide
Correction (July 23, 2026): An earlier version said Des Moines serves more students than the four largest suburbs combined; those suburbs enroll more. It also gave the special education gap as 27 poin...
One in Three: Waterloo and Davenport's Persistent Absence Crisis
Correction (2026-05-09): An earlier version of this article reported the 2021-22 gap between Waterloo and the state average as 12.2 points. The correct value is 12.9 points.
Three-Quarters Back: Iowa Has Recovered 76% from the COVID Absence Surge
The math is straightforward. Iowa's chronic absenteeism rate peaked at 25.6% in 2021-22. The pre-COVID baseline was 12.7% in 2018-19. The current rate is 15.8%. That puts Iowa 75.9% of the way back, t...