Quality Counts 2014
Education Week's 18th annual edition, Quality Counts 2014, once again includes a detailed Education Week Research Center examination of state-level education outcomes. This year's installment reflects reconsideration of the framework that has guided the research center's work in previous years.
Recognizing that states, to a great degree, have moved ahead with elements of "standards-based reform" that earlier reports set out to track, this year's Quality Counts does not survey states in the policy category of standards, assessments, and accountability, and in the teaching profession.
In addition, because of U.S. Census Bureau data delays resulting from last fall's federal government shutdown, the print edition of Quality Counts 2014 does not include the annual Chance for Success Index, which is based to a large degree on Census data.
This year's online report does, however, continue the tradition of offering state scores and letter grades for three mainstay elements of Quality Counts: the Chance for Success Index, the K-12 Achievement Index, and school finance.
Grading Highlights
The K-12 Achievement Index scores states on a 100-point scale, against a wide range of 18 indicators or criteria. They include National Assessment of Educational Progress results, high school graduation rates, and Advanced Placement test scores.
The nation this year earns a score of 70.2 and a grade of C-minus, up slightly from 69.7 the last time the analysis was done, in Quality Counts 2012.
Massachusetts took first place with 83.7 points and a grade of B—it has taken the top spot ever since the index was introduced in 2008. Maryland and New Jersey were second and third, earning a B and a B-minus, respectively. By contrast, the District of Columbia and Mississippi both received F grades on this year's index.
In the school finance arena, states were assessed on eight indicators, half of which look at school spending patterns, the other half at the distribution of funding across a state's districts.
When it comes to finance, the United States as a whole earns a C, based on 2011 data, virtually unchanged from last year's report. Wyoming ranked first for the sixth year in
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