The Highland School Board heard Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress for 2025 at its board retreat in Riverside on Monday.

In English/Language Arts, six of the eight class cohorts who tested both this year and last year improved their scores, with the two exceptions being seventh and eleventh grades. Tenth grade marked the highest ELA scores, with 84% of the class receiving scores of at least proficient. Third grade students had the lowest scores with around 50% proficiency.

In math, six of the eight cohorts improved from last year’s numbers. Eighth and ninth grades were the two to see falloffs. Eleventh grade had the highest math scores at 78% proficiency. Eighth grade was the lowest at 61% proficiency.

The district’s target is 80% proficiency in both exams in both the elementary and secondary school, although elementary principal Jane O’Leary indicated that the elementary intends to increase its target score to 100% the next time it sets goals. District officials said they were happy with the results of the new math curriculum that was fully implemented in 2024-25 after a pilot the year before. The focus area for ELA was on kindergarten through third grade teaching, with Highland Elementary School principal Jane O’Leary describing the cumulative nature of reading instruction, “By the time they get learning to read down, they’re in fourth grade, and they really start reading to learn. It’s reading instruction from kindergarten through third grade that I think is really our issue.”

State testing results will be released in the fall.