The Iowa Department of Education announced a graduation rate of 87.5% for Iowa’s class of 2023. Lower than graduation rates reported in previous years, the 2023 rate was calculated using a newly corrected code after the department identified an error in the legacy calculation code that had been used for at least ten years to determine the state’s four- and five-year graduation rates.
Using the corrected code, the Department of Education reports that Iowa’s four-year high school graduation rate for the graduating class of 2023 is 87.5%, up 0.1% from the corrected rate for the graduating class of 2022.
Iowa’s four-year graduation rate for the class of 2023 is consistent with the national standard and its neighboring states. Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota recently reported 2023 graduation rates below Iowa’s, at 83.3%, 87.2% and 84.1%, respectively. Illinois’ reported class of 2023 graduation rate was 87.6%. Among neighboring states, only Missouri and Wisconsin reported class of 2023 graduation rates meaningfully above Iowa’s, at 89.9% and 90.5% respectively.
Corrected four-year graduation rates for the graduating classes of 2021 and 2022 dropped slightly from what were originally reported. The corrected four-year graduation rate for the class of 2022 is 87.4%, down 2.5 percentage points from what was previously announced last year. For the graduating class of 2021, the corrected rate is 87.8%, down 2.4 percentage points from what was announced in 2022.
Iowa’s corrected five-year graduation rate — which reflects students who were part of a graduating class but took an extra year to finish high school — was 89.7% for the Class of 2022, and 90.1% for the Class of 2021. The five-year graduation rate for the class of 2023 will not be available until spring 2025.
Corrected rates for the graduating classes of 2021, 2022 and 2023, including rates by school district and student group, are available on the Department of Education’s Graduation Rates and Dropout Rates webpage.