Have you ever wondered how your state compares with other states? Are you curious to see how much funding other states set aside for education? As a parent, do you want to know how prepared your child will be for future success?
You can find answers to these questions by review the Quality Counts Report put out every year by the Office of Education. Various data is collected across the nation and then analyzed to give the nation and each individual state a grade for it's quality of education. There are 3 factors that determine the overall grade. These factors are: Chance for Success, School Finance, and K-12 Achievement.
Looking at 13 indicators states are graded for a students chance for success based off of how their education will impact their future. This score helps parents, teachers, and states understand how they can play a role in a child's development to lead them to more successful lives.
School finance includes not only the amount of money allocated for education but also how and where that money is spent.
K-12 achievement looks at not only reading and math end of year tests but also graduation rates and AP scores. There are 18 achievement measures that go into this score.
Along with the breakdown of each state's individual grade there is also a written analysis showing how your state compares to the national average, areas of weakness, and strengths. You can find all this information on Educational Weekly.
Don't just stop at the data from your state this year. You can also look at data from previous years to compare your state to itself. Are you moving up or down in certain areas? What areas do you need to focus on as a parent, teacher, district, or state.
For example, although my homestate ranks extremely low. It has been making progress over the past 3 years. Most excitedly it jumped 2 places in just the past year ranking it 3 states higher than when I first moved here. That gives me hope that my state is moving in the right direction, and I look forward to future reports to watch my state continue to climb.
If you want to check out how the nation or your state is doing click here.