Fixing Education

[Arkady]

Every year a series of tests measure educational progress in this country: the NAEP tests. These are arguably the best measure of how our educational system is doing, since unlike SATs, ACTs, and some others, the results aren't obscured by big changes in the share of people being tested. The latest results came out and there are some worrying signs -- some national averages declined between 2013 and 2014, which is contrary to the overall trend of improvement over time.

What went wrong? Tough to say. I've heard some blaming Common Core. Maybe. The most likely culprit, though, seems to be budget cuts at the state level -- those cuts took the form of lots of lay-offs of teachers, which you've got to expect to hurt. You can probably skate by for a while, despite those cuts, with good teachers sticking around, in the face of job insecurity and increased workloads, because they're "locked in" by their pensions. But job insecurity and increased workloads mean it'll be tougher to attract and retain good younger teachers, and eventually that's going to have an impact. No doubt further analysis will reveal interesting patterns.

In the meantime, if we'd like better education in this country, I think a good place to start is to focus on what is being done well and poorly already, and state-by-state variations allow that. The NAEP program publishes annual results for 4th- and eighth-grade reading and math. Averaging scores across all those tests, here are the top and bottom states, with the average percentage of students at or above the "proficient" standard.

The five best:

MA 50.25
NH 47.00
MN 45.00
NJ 44.25
VT 43.5

Also notable is that the Department of Defense schools came in at 45.75.

The five worst:

NM 22.75
AL 24.5
MS 24.5
LA 25
CA 27.25

http://www.nationsreportcard.gov/

Before someone pops in with the racist assumption that this is just a matter of whiter states doing better, I'll spare you the embarrassment by pointing out that's simply not true. Yes, New Hampshire and Vermont are unusually white, but Massachusetts and Minnesota are in the middle third of states for whiteness, and whites are actually under-represented in the DoD and New Jersey.

Note also that these are not small variations. The gap between the top-performing and bottom-performing states is more than a two-to-one difference. And the gaps can be even bigger at the elite level. For example, 14% of Massachusetts fourth graders read at an "advanced" level, versus just 4% at the lowest-performing state.

So, what drives success in places like MA, NH, and MN? What drives failure at places like NM, AL, and MS? Some of the answer is probably money. Rich states tend to thrive and poor states to suffer. But it's definitely not as simple as that. Delaware, Alaska, North Dakota, Connecticut, and Wyoming are the five richest states in the union based on GDP per capita, and only one of them comes out in the top ten for education based on this method (CT, ranked ninth). Meanwhile, Louisiana is actually richer than New Hampshire, despite NH being the second-highest-performing and LA being the second-lowest, when it comes to education. And, if we were to consider cities, D.C. has a GDP per capita twice as high as any state, yet has a proficiency average that's almost as bad as NM.

Does anyone have a list of educational spending per capita by state? That might give us a hint of what drives these differences. But I suspect one big factor would be hard to quantify: attitudes about education. If a culture values education, kids will get the message and study hard, to win some of that prestige for themselves. If the educated are ridiculed as pointy-headed geeks, it'll be hard to force education on kids. In Massachusetts, at least, there's little tendency to mistake ignorance for authenticity. We didn't find "misunderestimate" charming.

I'm betting you'd find some correlation between performance on educational tests and attitudes about climate change and evolution -- when politics or religion drive people to reject science, that takes the form of bashing the experts, and that sends a negative message to kids about the value of education.

 

[Max R.]

....Does anyone have a list of educational spending per capita by state? That might give us a hint of what drives these differences........

http://www.governing.com/gov-data/education-data/state-education-spending-per-pupil-data.html

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/compare_state_spending_2016b20a

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...e-most-and-the-least-on-education-in-one-map/

...Top spenders among states and “state-equivalents,” the Census Bureau’s term for D.C.:

1. New York ($19,818 per student)
2. Alaska ($18,175)
3. District of Columbia ($17,953)
4. New Jersey ($17,572)
5. Connecticut ($16,631)

Bottom spenders among states:

1. Utah ($6,555)
2. Idaho ($6,791)
3. Arizona ($7,208)
4. Oklahoma ($7,672)
5. Mississippi ($8,130)

For the full list of states and their per-pupil spending, see the list below, taken from the report, or page 8 in this PDF.

 

[Arkady]

http://www.governing.com/gov-data/education-data/state-education-spending-per-pupil-data.html

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/compare_state_spending_2016b20a

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...e-most-and-the-least-on-education-in-one-map/

...Top spenders among states and “state-equivalents,” the Census Bureau’s term for D.C.:

1. New York ($19,818 per student)
2. Alaska ($18,175)
3. District of Columbia ($17,953)
4. New Jersey ($17,572)
5. Connecticut ($16,631)

Bottom spenders among states:

1. Utah ($6,555)
2. Idaho ($6,791)
3. Arizona ($7,208)
4. Oklahoma ($7,672)
5. Mississippi ($8,130)

For the full list of states and their per-pupil spending, see the list below, taken from the report, or page 8 in this PDF.

Thanks. Interesting. I'd like to run those numbers through a cost-of-living adjustment for clearer figures, since how much you're paying teachers in real terms is going to depend on prevailing local wages. It also occurs to me that unusually rural states might be at a disadvantage, in that a given amount of spending isn't going to go as far if population density is low enough that you need to keep a lot of small schools open, rather than consolidating to more efficient, larger schools. I know that's an issue up in Maine (which has the nation's least urbanized population) -- the schools tend to be tiny, which requires a lot of expensive redundancy.

 

[LeRoy_Was_Here]

It also occurs to me that unusually rural states might be at a disadvantage, in that a given amount of spending isn't going to go as far if population density is low enough that you need to keep a lot of small schools open, rather than consolidating to more efficient, larger schools.

In most rural high schools in Colorado, trigonometry is not even taught. This issue popped up a few years back, when some state legislators were toying with the idea of making trigonometry a required class for students wishing to graduate with an 'Advanced' degree. Rural school districts were nothing less than horrified by the suggestion, and objected.....loudly. They said they simply could NOT find teachers qualified to teach trigonometry at the salaries that they would be able to pay. That was maybe six or seven years ago.

Since then, it has gotten worse. About a year ago, The Denver Post reported that many science and math teachers in heavily rural southwest Colorado----described by their districts and principals as being 'very good' or 'excellent' teachers----are quitting their jobs, because they have found they can make more money by hawking cheap jewelry and designer sunglasses at a kiosk in some God-forsaken mall. Reportedly, there are now some high schools in SW Colorado that are now not even teaching algebra.....

I take this as a pretty sad commentary on the state of education in America in general and Colorado in particular. When teachers are forced to leave the profession because teaching does not pay a living wage, and they find they can make more money by selling sunglasses, it becomes PAINFULLY clear that America does not give a flying French fart about education.

 

[Deleted member 21794]

In most rural high schools in Colorado, trigonometry is not even taught. This issue popped up a few years back, when some state legislators were toying with the idea of making trigonometry a required class for students wishing to graduate with an 'Advanced' degree. Rural school districts were nothing less than horrified by the suggestion, and objected.....loudly. They said they simply could NOT find teachers qualified to teach trigonometry at the salaries that they would be able to pay. That was maybe six or seven years ago.

Since then, it has gotten worse. About a year ago, The Denver Post reported that many science and math teachers in heavily rural southwest Colorado----described by their districts and principals as being 'very good' or 'excellent' teachers----are quitting their jobs, because they have found they can make more money by hawking cheap jewelry and designer sunglasses at a kiosk in some God-forsaken mall. Reportedly, there are now some high schools in SW Colorado that are now not even teaching algebra.....

I take this as a pretty sad commentary on the state of education in America in general and Colorado in particular. When teachers are forced to leave the profession because teaching does not pay a living wage, and they find they can make more money by selling sunglasses, it becomes PAINFULLY clear that America does not give a flying French fart about education.

I am all for paying people well for a job well done. Obviously the current education system doesn't feel paying good teacher well is a priority. I wonder where all the money is going.

 

[Klunker]

Just a personal side note... The OP mentioned DOD schools right up there with the top state scores. Three of our grandsons are enrolled in DOD schools. The oldest is a junior in high school this year. All three have excelled. Our daughter-in-law has stayed active in on-base PTO's, etc. and been intimate in seeing her sons get an excellent education. She cannot say enough about how good the schools have been at both of their last duty stations. Of course, our son... when he's not deployed.. and she spend time in the evenings working with the kids and their homework. They are very active parents in their children's education. They could not do it, however, without having excellent teachers and school administrators on the other end.

 

[Arkady]

In most rural high schools in Colorado, trigonometry is not even taught. This issue popped up a few years back, when some state legislators were toying with the idea of making trigonometry a required class for students wishing to graduate with an 'Advanced' degree. Rural school districts were nothing less than horrified by the suggestion, and objected.....loudly. They said they simply could NOT find teachers qualified to teach trigonometry at the salaries that they would be able to pay. That was maybe six or seven years ago.

Since then, it has gotten worse. About a year ago, The Denver Post reported that many science and math teachers in heavily rural southwest Colorado----described by their districts and principals as being 'very good' or 'excellent' teachers----are quitting their jobs, because they have found they can make more money by hawking cheap jewelry and designer sunglasses at a kiosk in some God-forsaken mall. Reportedly, there are now some high schools in SW Colorado that are now not even teaching algebra.....

I take this as a pretty sad commentary on the state of education in America in general and Colorado in particular. When teachers are forced to leave the profession because teaching does not pay a living wage, and they find they can make more money by selling sunglasses, it becomes PAINFULLY clear that America does not give a flying French fart about education.

That's a really interesting story. It basically comes down to the rural schools wanting to hide their failures.

I've seen some similar issue up in Maine, too. Teaching language is tough -- finding anyone cosmopolitan enough to speak a foreign language fluently yet still interested in living out in the middle of nowhere is tough. And if the school's small, you'll be lucky if you can afford to offer even a single foreign language, anyway. So, whereas in a more densely populated part of Massachusetts high schoolers might have a choice of five or six foreign languages taught by fluent speakers, in a rural school in Maine you might get a single option and it's taught by someone who is not even fully conversational -- basically "Peggy Hill."

 

[Deleted member 21794]

Just a personal side note... The OP mentioned DOD schools right up there with the top state scores. Three of our grandsons are enrolled in DOD schools. The oldest is a junior in high school this year. All three have excelled. Our daughter-in-law has stayed active in on-base PTO's, etc. and been intimate in seeing her sons get an excellent education. She cannot say enough about how good the schools have been at both of their last duty stations. Of course, our son... when he's not deployed.. and she spend time in the evenings working with the kids and their homework. They are very active parents in their children's education. They could not do it, however, without having excellent teachers and school administrators on the other end.

Parental involvement- another key factor. I would add that the excellent teachers and school administrators are more excellent as a result of parental involvement. I suspect people who see they are being judged on their performance will perform better.

 

[LeRoy_Was_Here]

I am all for paying people well for a job well done. Obviously the current education system doesn't feel paying good teacher well is a priority. I wonder where all the money is going.

Well, Colorado does not spend a lot on education. The state has become notorious for that. I may need to do some fact-checking on this, but at least at one point (recently), Colorado ranked 50th among the 50 states in the percentage of income spent on education. And education funding was slashed even further during the Great Recession, when state tax revenues plummeted. And have still not recovered. We also have a state treasurer, Walker Stapleton, who has said that "we are spending FAR too much money on schools, and we NEED that money for prisons."

You should not be surprised to learn that Mr. Stapleton is a Republican.

 

[Arkady]

Just a personal side note... The OP mentioned DOD schools right up there with the top state scores. Three of our grandsons are enrolled in DOD schools. The oldest is a junior in high school this year. All three have excelled. Our daughter-in-law has stayed active in on-base PTO's, etc. and been intimate in seeing her sons get an excellent education. She cannot say enough about how good the schools have been at both of their last duty stations. Of course, our son... when he's not deployed.. and she spend time in the evenings working with the kids and their homework. They are very active parents in their children's education. They could not do it, however, without having excellent teachers and school administrators on the other end.

I attended DoD schools for a while (I grew up on military bases), and I think highly of them. However, I didn't list them with the other states because it's an apples-to-oranges comparison. DoD schools are the only school system in the nation where every single student has at least one gainfully employed parent. None of those families are trying to scrape by on disability or unemployment checks, or trying to make ends meet with part-time jobs that have no benefits, or living three families to an apartment, etc. The parents may not be paid particularly well, but they have very steady paychecks and top-notch family benefits, decent housing, access to tax-free shopping on base, and lots of vacation time. They all also have access to high-quality socialized medicine for the whole family. I suspect that if everyone in America were in a similar situation, test scores at the other schools would be better, too.

 

[LeRoy_Was_Here]

Just a personal side note... The OP mentioned DOD schools right up there with the top state scores. Three of our grandsons are enrolled in DOD schools. The oldest is a junior in high school this year. All three have excelled. Our daughter-in-law has stayed active in on-base PTO's, etc. and been intimate in seeing her sons get an excellent education. She cannot say enough about how good the schools have been at both of their last duty stations. Of course, our son... when he's not deployed.. and she spend time in the evenings working with the kids and their homework. They are very active parents in their children's education. They could not do it, however, without having excellent teachers and school administrators on the other end.

A colleague of mine who just retired last year spent 30 years teaching math in DOD schools, and then spent the last few years of his career teaching math at the school where I teach. An EXCELLENT teacher. And boy, does he get a nice DOD pension!!

 

[Deleted member 21794]

Well, Colorado does not spend a lot on education. The state has become notorious for that. I may need to do some fact-checking on this, but at least at one point (recently), Colorado ranked 50th among the 50 states in the percentage of income spent on education. And education funding was slashed even further during the Great Recession, when state tax revenues plummeted. And have still not recovered. We also have a state treasurer, Walker Stapleton, who has said that "we are spending FAR too much money on schools, and we NEED that money for prisons."

You should not be surprised to learn that Mr. Stapleton is a Republican.

I suspect it is more a question of how money is spent versus how much. That said, I don't claim to know anything about education spending in Colorado. Stapleton could be all wrong. My statement is based on a general belief that governments tend to be pretty inefficient when it comes to spending money.