How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children?

Based on data for nine indicators in three
categories (curricular content, standardsbased
reform, and school choice), Fordham’s education reform grade provides a glimpse at each state’s aggressiveness in improving its schools in recent years. (The Foundation would have examined state
efforts at deregulating schools and educators
as well, but there is so little movement on
this front that reliable data are unavailable.)

Here, three states earn honor grades—Arizona, California, and New Mexico—while half receive D’s or F’s. The national average is a C-. The cellar is occupied by Vermont—once considered to be a forerunner in education reform due to its innovative assessments and standards.

In general, states’ strongest performances
came in the standards-based reform category,
where the average grade is a C and ten
states earned B’s, undoubtedly the result of
pressure brought by NCLB and close to two
decades of state-level attention to this
reform strategy. In many cases, however, the
standards and curricular expectations underlying
standards-based reform are themselves
inadequate, as indicated by states’ average
grade of C- in curricular content. Most states
received their worst marks (D+ on average)
for school choice, with 31 earning D’s or F’s;
unfortunately, options such as charter
schools are still scarce in most places.