Georgia schools rated so-so in annual report on quality

When it’s time to rank anyone for anything, most of us want to be on top. Some of us are content to be somewhere in the middle. But nobody wants to be dead last.

Editorial Projects in Education, then on prof if if if if if it publisher of EducationWeek, perhaps the most respected source for education news, has released its annual Quality Counts report.

This isn’t a survey tacked onto a customer service call or email that you keep trying to delete. The report is a yearlong look at several aspects of education in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It takes test scores, graduation rates, per-pupil spending and socioeconomic factors and gauges the strengths andweaknesses of education systems across the county.

It’s so massive it must be do led out in three installments. The last one came out last week. It put the country’ s education systems overall at aC.

“While a handful of high-achievers continue to build on their success, and while somestates that perennially fall short fifind ways to shine in key areas, the end result remains aC— keeping the issue of how to spark improvement before policymakers for another year,” wrote the researchers.

So here’ s how Georgia fared:

In many areas, the Peach State was pretty even and in some places a little ahead of the national average. Georgia ranks 13 thin the nation fork -12 achievement, and the overall ranking put us at 30thamong the 50 states and the District of Columbia, with an overall score of 73.5out of 100points.

From the report: “Diving into the fifindings for the three graded indices, Georgia earns a C-plus in the Chance-forSuccess category and ranks 33rd. The average state earns a C-plus.

“In School Finance, Georgia receivesaD-plusandranks 37th. For the k-12 Achievement Index, it fifinishes 13th with a grade of C. The average state earns a grade of C in both School Finance and k-12 Achievement.”

Andif youpitus against the rest of the South, we stand head and shoulders above Louisiana, whichcameindead last, and evenAlabama at No. 43. In math we were third most improved from2003 to 2017, with 11.4 points.

“We’ve set a course in our state toward ad if ff ff ff ff ff fe rent kind of educational system— one that prioritizes awhole-child, wellrounded education instead of piling more andmore layers of testing, accountability, and bureaucracy onto our schools ,” state School Superintendent Richard Woods said. “Ourwork is certainly not fifinished, butwe’removing in the right direction, andI continue to seeindicators that this strategy is working.”

But beforewe start patting ourselves on the back, we need to look at some weaknesses.

We were 41st in per-pupil spending at $10,114 (which is adjusted for regional variances incost of living). Andwewere also 41st in high school graduation rates, although we’ve been getting consistently better. Other areasof concernare family income levels (38th) and family education (35th).

Although the data is a few years old, this report compiled since 1997 isn’t meant to kick anyone in the teeth. It’s supposed to be an eyeopener, said Sterling Lloyd, assistant director of EducationWeek’s Research Center.

“Wehopereaders compare themselves to others to see what policies they need for future improvements,” he said. “In these times of economic competition, education matters. These may be numbers, but they represent real students and what opportunities for jobs or careers they’ll have.”