Smartest/Dumbest states
 

The dumbest state is Arizona? I thought it was Mississippi. Im surprised Hawaii is so low.

From Cnn..

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States Ranked: Smart to Dumb

The smartest state is Vermont. The dumbest is Arizona.

These are the 2005-2006 findings of the Education State Rankings, a survey by Morgan Quitno Press of hundreds of public school systems in all 50 states. States were graded on 21 factors, including student achievement and attendance, positive outcomes, strong student-teacher relationships and school district efficiency. Other factors are the number of high school graduates, reading, writing and math proficiency, percent of school-age kids in public schools, high school drop out rates, student-teacher ratios and class size.




"The Smartest State Award recognizes those states that are committed to students and teachers, emphasize excellence in the classroom and ensure that public elementary and secondary schools are efficiently-run," said Scott Morgan, president of Morgan Quitno Press. "Vermont shines in many key areas of education. A high percentage of its students excel in reading, writing and math. In addition, schools in Vermont have smaller class sizes and lower pupil-teacher ratios than in most other states."

They're doing something right in New England. Massachusetts was designated the smartest state by Morgan Quitno Press the previous two years, and New England states dominate four of the five top slots this year.

The losers are Arizona, Mississippi, New Mexico, Nevada, California, Louisiana, Alaska, Alabama, Hawaii and Tennessee.

How does YOUR state rank?

1. Vermont
2. Connecticut
3. Massachusetts
4. New Jersey
5. Maine
6. Minnesota
7. Virginia
8. Wisconsin
9. Montana
10. New York

11. Pennsylvania
12. Nebraska
13. Kansas
14. Iowa
15. New Hampshire
16. Rhode Island
17. Wyoming
18. South Dakota
19. Maryland
20. North Dakota

21. Missouri
22. North Carolina
23. Colorado
24. Texas
25. Delaware
26. Indiana
27. Michigan
28. Idaho
29. South Carolina
30. Washington

31. Ohio
32. Illinois
33. Utah
34. West Virginia
35. Kentucky
36. Florida
37. Arkansas
38. Oregon
39. Oklahoma
40. Georgia

41. Tennessee
42. Hawaii
43. Alabama
44. Alaska
45. Louisiana
46. California
47. Nevada
48. New Mexico
49. Mississippi
50. Arizona

I thought Kansas would be lower, since the school board there doesn't seem to understand the difference between science and faith...

While I completely agree w/ you...we prob. should start this kind of discussion. People get very touchy about politics/religion, thus, these are not topics that should probably be discussed on a forum. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I believe the mods have consistently shut down threads regarding polititcs/religion

Comparing states provides bad data. Example: Alabama is ranked 43, but the #1 ranked high school (2004) is in Alabama. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7723397/site/newsweek/

Ouch. Kansas ranked ahead of Michigan. We're not doing so good I guess.

I find it really interesting that Virginia is the first Southern state to appear on the list, at #7. And at least Mississippi isn't #50 anymore, like they had been for a long time ;)

-- Shade

Either "Morgan Quitno Press" can see into the future, or this is a bunch of crap. The 2005-2006 school year is not even half way over, and they allready have their final results?

I would like to see that list compared to a list of what state spends on education per student. Or at least what percentage of their state budget goes toward education.

I'm from TN and it doesn't surprise me where we are. We have a bottomless budget pit called TennCare. It's a broken system that beaurocrats keep thinking they can just throw money at to fix, which of course takes away from something as important as education.

Unless Texas is cleaning up it's act with it's sh****y education reform that Bush Jr. left behind to go on to the Whitehouse, usually Texas is ranked around 48th.. but I'm sure they only sampled certain schools and not all of them as I still think Texas has some of the crappiest public schools in the nation, trust me, I went to them and read about it all the time living here. I have friends who teach and I tell them all the time they should move out of state just to make a decent living from it, as Texas is one of the lowest paying states for teachers as well.. in my opinion, Texas should be in the bottom ten, I don't trust that list provided as there were even ways for Texas not to provide all number of highschool dropouts, etc. Sorry, been reading the book Bushwhacked and it's got some great coverage of the education down here in the Lone Star State... ;)

I'm from KY and I feel your pain. At least we're 35th though. I guess, on the bright side, we're all beating the crap out of California.

Also, do you think this might be biased towards the northeast?

Living in WY makes me feel pretty good, as I'm still in school:)

I'm in Utah which is #33 - sigh - well, that explains a few things. ;)

Heh, Colorado does have the highest per-capita of College graduates than any other state.......but you would not know that when driving here......these Idiots will fly down Interstate 25 @ 60 mph in a blinding snowstorm.......I am totally serious, I drive a big rig everyday and this is what I see in the winter time.........So it really does not suprise me that Colorado is ranked 23rd