Here is the report. See how your state did. We judged states by their support for research-based policies that help children and public education.

Categories Education Reform

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Christine says:

February 2, 2016 at 5:38 pm

Thanks Diane and NPE. As to NJ, I beg to differ with the A for school finance. Gov. Christie refuses to follow the school funding law and is pulling millions from sending districts (particularly cities) to give to charters.

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MDG says:

February 2, 2016 at 7:24 pm

Thank you Diane and NPE for providing us with this report.

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LeftCoastTeacher says:

February 2, 2016 at 7:25 pm

Nice work, NPE! Your lips to every state superintendent’s ears. States must be the focus now.

California received a D, and a B in high stakes testing. Los Angeles has, with the aiding and abetting of Duncan, ignored Sacramento most of the time, however, and would have achieved straight F’s if it were to be evaluated separately. Jus sayin.

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virginiasgp says:

February 2, 2016 at 8:32 pm

Diane, so let me give this straight. You claim VAMs give credit based on students’ SES. VAM proponents disagree. But your NPE report doesn’t even try to disguise its ranking of states based on their affluence! You give points simply for fewer children living in poverty which the state has almost no control over (poverty alleviation programs are mainly run at the federal level). Quite shocking. Hey, was this Burris’ idea?!

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- Linda says:
  
  February 2, 2016 at 11:40 pm
  
  Poverty states tend to be red states that embrace the ALEC agenda. If the state’s populations voted progressive, things would get better. We all scratch our heads when a poor southern state, that receives more aid from the federal government than it pays in, votes for the party with a platform that gives them less. For obvious reasons, an intelligent person wouldn’t develop a ratings causal factor, for something that is illogical and that has absolutely no basis for explanation.
  
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- Dienne says:
  
  February 3, 2016 at 6:54 am
  
  Wait, what? NOW you’re saying affluence matters??
  
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- Tim says:
  
  February 3, 2016 at 7:32 am
  
  Additionally, the top-graded (C) states in the NPE report are 79% (IA), 69% (NE), 92% (VT), 80% (MT), 91% (WV), 49% (AK), 65% (MA), 88% (NH), 49% (NJ), 81% (ND), 77% (SD), 58% (CT), and 41% (MD) white. The national average is 50.2%.
  
  I will have to read the Baker report mentioned in the appendix to figure out how a state whose median district will spend $23,370 per student in the 2015-2016 school year only rates a “B” for school finance.
  
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- Máté Wierdl says:
  
  February 3, 2016 at 8:38 am
  
  Why do you think, states cannot do much about poverty? States can and do a lot to maintain or even widen poverty such as giving tax breaks to big companies, make higher ed less and less affordable.
  
  In TN, for example, the governor wants to outsource the maintenance of government buildings to private companies, which would result in loss of jobs and “savings” $ on workers’ benefits.
  
  Of course, states can also be creative with federal $. Take the Achievement School District. Its leadership gets high salaries from race to the top $s, and they fire hundreds of teachers.
  
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- Linda says:
  
  February 3, 2016 at 9:10 am
  
  Relative to Tim’s point, let’s conduct a study. We will take the reformers’ children, at birth, place them in poverty, add a legacy of discrimination, deny them the contacts that grease the wheel to success, and demonstrate to them, the likelihood that they will thrive in the future is slim. Then we will have a starting point for comparison.
  Unfortunately, any comparisons, in the future, will reflect the Harvard Professor’s view, currently in practice. His children in suburban schools shouldn’t be tested b/c it will crowd out important subjects. While children in urban areas should be tested everyday.
  
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    February 3, 2016 at 9:12 am
    
    What you need to remember about Tim is that he spins everything into an argument for charters, specifically Eva’s
  - virginiasgp says:
    
    February 3, 2016 at 9:34 am
    
    Linda, oh wait, it’s already been done. About 70% of iQ is based on genes, not family SES. Rating a district based on their students’ IQ is ridiculous (whether that’s using NPE’s % of children in poverty or the absolute achievement scores of students.). Only when you separate student growth achieved by the schools (VAMs) from the aptitude of the students can you judge those schools, districts or states.
- Ken Watanabe says:
  
  February 3, 2016 at 9:12 am
  
  Boy, I feel pity for the one suffering from side effect of VAMpire stimulant that makes you numb about getting too high, low, and delusional–at three at the same time–especially in a shocking moment of a baseball super slugger getting arrested this early morning.
  
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- Linda says:
  
  February 3, 2016 at 9:17 am
  
  Only the middle class and poor are arguing about the oligarch-imposed testing.
  The deformers don’t inflict it on their own. Making a profit off of the kids of the richest 0.2% is cannibalization, within the family. They prefer cannibalization at the species level.
  
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- MathVale says:
  
  February 3, 2016 at 10:09 am
  
  Linda, After watching the blue bloods and trust fund kiddies try to run the country over the years, it is pretty clear if Trump, Romney, and the Bush brothers were not coddled by the wealth and power of their parents, these hapless spawns of privilege would be serving fries or cubicle rats running the treadmill.
  
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- Duane Swacker says:
  
  February 3, 2016 at 10:47 am
  
  vsgp,
  
  IQ is USDA certified 100% Pure Grade AA mixture of equal parts Bovine, Equine and Porcine Excrement.
  
  Yes, it really is that simple.
  
  Need we get into an argument about it?
  
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  - virginiasgp says:
    
    February 3, 2016 at 10:56 am
    
    You need not argue with me about that statement, but you might want to argue with these noted experts about their agreed upon conclusions. Or the fact that the overwhelming majority of experts independently contacted agreed with the conclusions or deferred for other reasons.
  - Duane Swacker says:
    
    February 3, 2016 at 12:43 pm
    
    Perhaps if I felt so inclined to argue inanities, I might also want to argue with the esteemed experts on how many angels can dance on the head of a pin or with the renowned experts on astrology how the lining up of the five planets will determine our future, eh!?!?
  - virginiasgp says:
    
    February 3, 2016 at 12:49 pm
    
    If the angels are roughly the size of a small bacterium, then your answer is at least 150K. Any more questions I can help you with today?
  - Máté Wierdl says:
    
    February 3, 2016 at 3:07 pm
    
    What’s “intelligence” in
    
    2) “Intelligence, so defined, can be measured, and intelligence tests measure it well. They are among the most accurate (in technical terms, reliable and valid) of all psychological tests and assessments.”
    
    When I go to the wikipedia page on intelligence
    
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence
    
    I read
    
    “That is, different cultures will define intelligence differently than other cultures.”
    
    which negates the objectivity and uniform applicability of the concept, and hence the claim under 2) above.
    
    Indeed, one of the 10+ definitions of intelligence given on its wikipage, namely
    
    “A very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings—”catching on,” “making sense” of things, or “figuring out” what to do.”
    
    clearly makes intelligence dependent on culture, though this is the very definition given by the group that claims 2) above.
  - virginiasgp says:
    
    February 3, 2016 at 3:11 pm
    
    It’s not dependent on culture. Many intelligence tests have no words at all. They are both internally consistent (within a culture) and across cultures. In other words, the same individuals that score high on IQ tests given in a given language score high on a test that has no language included.
    
    I guess it takes intelligence to under the concept “intelligence”.
  - Máté Wierdl says:
    
    February 3, 2016 at 5:51 pm
    
    So you first refer me to read Wikipedia, then you tell me that this sentence is incorrect
    
    “That is, different cultures will define intelligence differently than other cultures.”
    
    since you think intelligence is independent of cultures.
    
    The reason why this is interesting is because I claim math knowledge (intelligence) cannot be measured via standardized tests (hence the connection of this discussion with the NPE report). Then VAM and ACT fans say it can be measured, but what they really measure is not math intelligence at all but something which is unrelated though has the advantage of being measurable.
- Linda says:
  
  February 4, 2016 at 12:38 am
  
  Va, sgp
  ALEC’s policies put children into poverty e.g. lower wages for working families, incarcerations of their parents, through harsher sentencing (with the goal of increasing profits for bail bondsmen and private prisons). Then, there are payday lenders, with usury fees and, banks, credit card and insurance companies, with exploitative customer agreements. There are illnesses that bankrupt families b/c states reject healthcare exchanges.
  NPE may not evaluate commitment to public education, using your flawed construct, as follows: (1) High I.Q. people benefit America to such a great extent, that standards reflecting their strengths, should be devised. All people should strive to match the strengths of high I.Q. people. And, all people and, their educational institutions should be measured, relative to the achievement of those standards.
  America changed to a service based economy some time ago. E.Q., creativity, etc., may trump mathematical skills in terms of contribution to macro economic growth. Hedge fund managers (excellent scores on current tests) create and use sophisticated algorithms yet, the financial sector drags down U.S. productivity.
  
  BTW- conservative columnist David Brooks acknowledges that Ted Cruz , a Harvard graduate, is very intelligent but, he described him as a cruel man, who, as a prosecutor, deliberatively, with knowledge that it was wrong, took a man’s freedom away. And, others say Cruz is so unpleasant, that working with him is impossible. So what does the, high I.Q. Cruz, bring to the table of American social or economic growth?
  .
  
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Christine Langhoff says:

February 2, 2016 at 9:15 pm

This is amazing work that NPE has done! And the irony of a letter grade will be lost on few.

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alice says:

February 2, 2016 at 9:52 pm

This report is not only informative in a unique and important way, but the layout, structure, format, and even font type and size are so user-friendly, I have to assume somebody with elementary ed experience was in on the project.
What a fabulous addition to the conversation – facts, figures, rationale, research. Kudos to all who put it together!!

Here’s hoping we start hearing about it in the mainstream media.
(Hope springs eternal…)

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Linda says:

February 2, 2016 at 11:46 pm

My representative to the Ohio State Board of Education reviewed the NPE rating and replied that he was “saddened” by the information. The “D” rating reflects a political climate that devalues public education.

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- MathVale says:
  
  February 3, 2016 at 9:57 am
  
  Ohio has definitely moved backward in terms of education under Kasich and the Republicans. From a Trump supporter telling me he was “tired of intellectuals” (does that mean he embraces ignoramuses?), the constant fumbling at the statehouse on education policy, to parents bragging to me their drop our son will make twice what I make in a “real job” (lawn care). Now in Ohio, education is a four lettered word.
  
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- Duane Swacker says:
  
  February 3, 2016 at 11:10 am
  
  Heard an interview with Kasich yesterday on National Propaganda Radio in which he stated that Ohio now has a budget surplus of two billion. Obviously none of that is slated for public education, eh???
  
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- Laura H. Chapman says:
  
  February 3, 2016 at 3:32 pm
  
  I have forwarded the report to the Cincinnati Educational Justice Coalition in case they missed it. They are doing good work with the press. They will probably help get the report card wider circulation locally and in Ohio where the TFAers are really intent on raising money for more charters. A new recruit for the TFA charterizing effort was sent from Indianapolis to Cincinnati to raise $28 million. The TFA fund-raising operation in Indianapolis, set up as a non-profit, is called MindTrust.
  
  I appreciate this report card effort, and also know it is not easy.
  
  A long time ago I constructed a report card indicating support for visual arts education using NCES data. Most of that information was expressed in percentages, or easily converted to percentages. My analysis (condensed in a spreadsheet) showed far more lip-service from administrators than tangible indicators of support. I found a high level of ignorance among school administrators about instructional time allocated for studies in the arts and whether or not there were written national or state or local standards for arts education . There was a major disconnect between the professional development offered in art education and the value attached to it by teachers. I also learned that NCES had an eccentric scheme for counting days in a school year and soliciting information on allocations of time for instruction.
  
  Doing a state-by-state analysis and drawing conclusions is really labor intensive. Thanks to all for this report.
  
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    February 3, 2016 at 4:25 pm
    
    I urge readers to forward the NPE report card to legislators, school board members, superintendents and others.
- Linda says:
  
  February 4, 2016 at 12:49 am
  
  Agree with Diane. The message has to get out, while it’s fresh.
  Each reader contacting just 3 people, could be huge, in impact.
  
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readingexchange says:

February 3, 2016 at 6:38 am

This is enormously valuable information and very timely as states are in the process of deciding which of their educational policies should go forward.

Thank you NPE.

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Máté Wierdl says:

February 3, 2016 at 5:56 pm

The TN governor almost at the same time released his wonderful plan to support education. Does this improve our GPA?

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2016/02/01/haslam-calls-1046-million-teacher-pay-raises/79529078/

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