How do states support their public schools? Badly, a new 50-state report card shows.
How do the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia support their public schools? Badly, according to a new report card (see in full below) which evaluates their performance on six key criteria and finds all of them wanting. The best overall grade is a C, with most states earning D’s or F’s.
The report card is being issued Tuesday by the Network for Public Education (NPE), a nonprofit group co-founded several years ago by education historian and activist Diane Ravitch to advocate for America’s public school system. The authors evaluated states on criteria they see as promoting a professional teaching force, equitable and sufficient funding and equal opportunities for all students to succeed — all critical to the health of public schools.
Specifically, the reports looks at how states approach high-stakes standardized testing and school finance as well as how much they resist the privatization of public education and promote the professionalization of teachers. How states spend taxpayer money is another criterion, as is whether states promote policies that affect the income, living conditions and governmental support for students to give them all a chance to succeed in school. Some states earned A’s in a category or two but none earned higher than an overall C. You can see the breakdown below.
This list of criteria is very different than would be one coming from How do states support their public schools? Badly, a new 50-state report card shows. - The Washington Post: