HARTFORD — A new report released this month shows Connecticut schools are doing pretty well compared to the rest of the nation.
The state came in sixth place in the United States, in Education Week’s Quality Counts 2015 report.
The criteria for the list included: Chance for Success, K-12 Achievement, and School Finances.
Connecticut earned an 82.3 on a 100 point scale, giving it a “B-” in the report.
Per student spending was the sixth highest (at $15,172) and the graduation rate id the 12th highest (at 86 percent).
The report includes the following description of our state:
More than 64% of three- and four-year old children in Connecticut were enrolled in preschool in 2013, a higher proportion than in any other state. Residents were also among the nation’s wealthiest. Nearly 60% of adults earned incomes above the national median, among the highest shares of any state. Similarly, nearly 70% of children had families with incomes that were at least 200% of the poverty level, also among the highest of any state. High incomes likely contributed to the state’s large school budgets, which in turn seem to have helped students perform better than their nationwide peers on standardized tests. While 34% of American fourth-graders were proficient on reading exams, nearly 43% of Connecticut fourth-graders were. High school students were also far more likely than their peers nationwide to excel on Advanced Placement tests.
Information on family income, parent education and employment, child schooling, and employment opportunities after college are included in the “Chance for Success” criteria.
Massachusetts came in at the top of the list with a grade of “B,” while Mississippi had the worst grade with a grade of “D.”
The report analyzes data from the Class of 2012 and test score data from 2013.
