In Conclusion...

1. The ranking of best states for education can vary widely. Part of that is due to the fact that there's also a variety of methods to try to calculate the best in education, another reason is that it's difficult to compare schools when they all teach different things. Regardless, it just shows that the US is inconsistent when evaluating schools. If school rankings have this many discrepancies, shouldn't that be a red flag that education isn't being delivered consistently around the US.

2. Many Americans move each year. If you look at the beginning of the US to now, people are moving more than ever. It would be logical to make sure schools have the same requirements everywhere.

3. A fair amount of high school graduates aren't prepared for college. Isn't one of the functions of high school to prepare students for college? If education requirements were standardized, less time would be wasted trying to calculate how well schools are doing and more time could be spent improving them.

Some Things to Think About...

Education is a very broad and controversial subject. There's a lot of points to discuss, and they all intertwine deeply. Sometimes it can get confusing keeping track of all the various components and whether or not they're really effective. Here are just some questions related to my topic-

1. Are there different kinds of learners? Should teachers be able to know how to teach to each type? Should requirements be adjust based off of what kind of learner a student is? Is that fair?

2. Is high-stakes testing necessary? Is it accurate? Should colleges place more or less importance on these scores?

3. What is intelligence? Are there multiple kinds of intelligence? How do you measure for each kind? Which kinds of intelligence matter? Why do we place so much importance on them?

4. Should classes be solely pass/fail? Is that fair? Are letter grades fair? Does education have to be fair?

5. Is the letter grade system consistent? Does it vary from teacher to teacher?

6. What should be taught in US schools? How do you determine what information is useful and what information isn't? Should we compare ourselves to other countries and the ways they teach?

7. How can schools account for creativity? Is creativity useful? How useful? How can you define creativity? Should colleges place more importance on creativity?

Facts About Education #3

1. As of 2013, less than 1/3 of all high school graduates were ready for entry-level college classes in the four core areas: English, math, science, and reading.

2. Of the 1.8 million high school students who took the ACT that year, only 26% reached the college readiness benchmarks in all four subjects.

3. 27% reached the benchmarks in two or three of the subjects.

4. 16% reached the benchmark for only one of the four core areas.

5. This means that roughly 30% of the students who took the ACT in 2013 didn't meet any of the college readiness benchmarks.

6. Minnesota and Wisconsin were the best in at reaching the benchmarks, while Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina performed the worst.



http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/08/21/high-school-graduates-still-struggle-with-college-readiness

Facts About Education #2

1. Twenty percent of all first-time undergraduates take at least one remedial course. (2011)
2.  Nationwide the number of high school graduates is expected to grow 10 percent in the next 10 years.

http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/the-college-solution/2011/09/06/20-surprising-higher-education-facts

Facts About Education #1

1. High schools are not preparing students with the skills and knowledge necessary to excel after graduation. Only 1 in 4 high school students graduate college-ready in the 4 core subjects of English, reading, math and science.

2. Roughly half of the students who enter a 4-year school will receive a bachelor’s degree within 6 years.

3. Approximately 6 million students, grades 7 through 12, are struggling to read at grade-level. Among the highest, 70% of 8th graders read below the standard. 

4. 1.3 million high school students don't graduate on time yearly. States with highest rates (80-89%) are Wisconsin, Iowa, Vermont, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. States with lowest (less than 60%) are Nevada, New Mexico, Louisiana, Georgia and S. Carolina.

*Graduation rates don't necessarily mean a school is good. Massachusetts is commonly ranked as one of the best states for education standards, but they're not among the states with the highest graduation rates. Wisconsin might have much lower standards. In theory, a student from a state with low education standards and a state with high education standards could be accepted to the same college. Colleges will view both as equally prepared, while one of the students is actually farther behind than the other, unaware that the label "high school graduate" doesn't mean the same thing in each state.




   https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-education-america

Statisitics on Moving 2013

According the US Census Bureau, over 7.2 million Americans moved to different states last year. The last estimate of the population determined the US has over 312.4 million people. This means that around 1 in 50 Americans moved.

Washington Post 2014 Best States for Education

Here's a link to another website with a yet a different ranking of the best and worst states in education. The top three are Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Vermont (in that order).

Wallethub 2014 Best States for Education

Here's an additional report on the best education state wide. These rankings were determined by a team of several experts using metrics like "pupil to teacher ratio" and "reading scores" among other things. To see the original report, click here. According to this site, the top three sates for a high school education are New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Vermont- different from US News Education's findings.



Top Ranking States

Overall Rank	State	School System Quality Rank	Education Output & Safety Rank
1	New Jersey	1	2
2	Massachusetts	2	12
3	Vermont	3	11
4	New Hampshire	4	15
5	Kansas	8	3
6	Colorado	13	1
7	Virginia	10	4
8	Minnesota	6	31
9	Wisconsin	7	20
10	Pennsylvania	5	43
11	Iowa	9	19
12	Texas	24	5
13	Connecticut	11	38
14	Maryland	16	27
15	Washington	14	50
16	Ohio	21	15
T-17	Illinois	20	24
T-17	Maine	12	42
19	Missouri	22	13
20	New York	27	7
21	Utah	28	8
22	Indiana	19	33
23	Nebraska	17	34
24	South Dakota	25	18
25	Wyoming	15	45
26	North Dakota	18	47
27	Idaho	26	34
28	Tennessee	32	6
29	Florida	29	22
30	Montana	23	48
31	Rhode Island	31	29
32	Georgia	35	13
33	Oregon	30	41
34	Delaware	37	21
35	Hawaii	36	25
36	Oklahoma	43	9
37	North Carolina	38	17
38	Alaska	42	23
39	California	33	51
40	Michigan	34	44
41	Kentucky	40	39
42	South Carolina	44	28
43	Arizona	41	37
44	Arkansas	39	49
45	West Virginia	45	26
46	New Mexico	46	10
47	Nevada	47	36
48	Louisiana	49	40
49	Alabama	48	46
50	Mississippi	51	30
51	District of Columbia	50	31