2017’s States with the Best & Worst School Systems

From WalletHub, July 31, 2017

Securing a child’s academic success begins with choosing the right schools. But how can parents decide where best to enroll their kids? Because children develop and learn at different rates, the ideal answer to that question varies based on each student’s needs. Unfortunately, most parents don’t have the luxury of placing their children in exclusive, private or preparatory schools that are known for providing their students with greater individual attention.

For the majority of U.S. families, public education is the only option. But the quality of public school systems varies widely from state to state and is often a question of funding. Public elementary and secondary education dollars traditionally flow from three sources: the federal, state and local governments. According to EdCentral, states contribute nearly as much as local governments, while the federal government supplies the smallest share of the total. Some researchers have found that more resources — or taxes paid by residents — typically result in better school-system performance.

Unlike other research that focuses primarily on academic outcomes or school finance, however, WalletHub’s analysis takes a more comprehensive approach, accounting for performance, funding, safety, class size and instructor credentials. To determine the top-performing school systems in America, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 21 key measures….

read … Wallet Hub Study

Public School Ranking by State

Hawaii

• Rank – 39th
• Score -- 47.23
• Quality – 43rd
• Safety -- 19th
• Median ACT Score -- 46th (tied) – Only Nevada is worse

PBN: Hawaii among states with lowest median scores on college admissions test, study finds