Iowa Core Standards and Assessments: A Crime Prevention Strategy

More than 7,500 people are currently in state prisons in Iowa. Many of these individuals could have avoided crime if they had a better education. Nationally, almost 7 in 10 inmates in state prisons failed to graduate from high school, whereas fewer than 3 in 10 of the general population had failed to graduate from high school.

This report discusses how Iowa’s education system can help reduce crime by helping youth gain the real academic and social skills necessary to be successful in school, on the job and in life. It shows how the Iowa Core utilizes a deeper learning approach that, in contrast with rote learning and memorization, helps prepare students for productive employment and avoid crime.