saw this list is out again. i see montana is in the top ten...again. States Ranked: Smartest to Dumbest The smartest state in the union for the second consecutive year is Massachusetts. The dumbest, for the third year in a row, is New Mexico. These are the 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 a variety of factors based on how they compare to the national average. These included such positive attributes as per-pupil expenditures, public high school graduation rates, average class size, student reading and math proficiency, and pupil-teacher ratios. States received negative points for high drop-out rates and physical violence. How does YOUR state rank? Massachusetts Connecticut Vermont New Jersey Wisconsin New York Minnesota Iowa Pennsylvania Montana Maine Virginia Nebraska New Hampshire Kansas Wyoming Indiana Maryland North Dakota Ohio Colorado South Dakota Rhode Island Illinois North Carolina Missouri Delaware Utah Idaho Washington Michigan South Carolina Texas and West Virginia (tie) Oregon Arkansas Kentucky Georgia Florida Oklahoma Tennessee Hawaii California Alabama Alaska Louisiana Mississippi Arizona Nevada New Mexico this explains why i'm not more good looking. i guess you can either be smart or pretty :Smarty: :grin:
Rankings like that are pretty much a waste of time. Individual schools within the states can fall well outside the state ranking. We moved from Minnesota, number 7, to Colorado, number 21, but the school the kids are in now blows away where they were. We went from a rural MN community where some 70% of the kids were getting lunch assistance from the governement. It was supposed to be a great school, it was GARBAGE! Now we live in a much more affluent area where only a dozen kids of the 250 enrolled k-12 require assistance. We went from 30 kids in a class to 13. Here over 50% of the graduates have acedemic scholarships on graduation. My kids were first graders when we moved and they were WAY behind when we came mid year. Next year they will be third graders in Colorado but could probably go back and teach sixth grade at that Minnesota school.
Hey! If Massachusetts is so smart, why is Ted Kennedy still a senator? Maybe it's true that smarts and wisdom don't go hand in hand.
these rankings are an average, like stated before. and, no, you cant make comparisons based on specific situations, such as one school to another. i know here in missoula, the spectrum of schooling ranges from just barely acceptable [for "problem" kids] to virtual overkill [for the "gifted" kids]. as a product of the local schooling system, myself, i can say that [like in life in general] you get out of it what you put into it. that said, if the kid is having problems and the parents dont seem to pay much attention to what little Jr. is doing in school, it will become the schools problem to deal with, and then it becomes societies problem. maybe this listing shouldnt be "smartest to dumbest". maybe it should be "who takes care of their kids the best"
I can tell you down in New Orleans,literally it is one of if not the worst school district in the United States. The drop out rate is insane,and the literacy at graduation is about fifth grade. The only reason that La is not at the drop dead bottom is all of the Catholic and private schools.The public school system is disgusting. The only good part is that they finally got rid of the garbage on the school board last year at election time.The leader of that board did not even have children in the schools.Everytime she was on tv,she was shooting off her fat mouth while wearing 300 dollar blouses,500 dollar diamond earings,rings in the thousands,hairstyles that cost 200 dollars. I worked with a lady several years ago whose brother worked for the school district,she would come into work all pissed off about what her brother was telling her.In the wharehouse would be a thousand computers donated by many companies,and they were being taken home by the school board,bus drivers,city officials and so on.But none were being put into the schools. Schools were literally falling down,you could walk up to a wall and break chunks of bricks off with no effort.Windows that had been broken out and replaced with plastic.Air Conditioning units that were so badly rusted,they would not even turn on. We had a new guy,Joe D'Amato come in a few years ago and renovated several schools,fired teachers and brought in new ones from out of state.Fired Principles and made them teachers.Revamped the curiculum,and made parents accept responsibility for their kids.Brought grades up,and held back students who needed it.Made teachers stay after school to help kids that wanted it.The school board led by the big mouth tried to oust him,and the state of La came to his rescue using an emergency bill stating the only way he could be fired was if the Governor fired him.This guy had everything he needed to fix the public school system in New Orleans,and he was doing it. A few months ago he quit.It was either that or die.In the year or two he was here,this job litterally destroyed his health.Now we are back to square one.
