Arkansas’ public-education system received a B- and a fifth-place ranking in the nation for the second-consecutive year in the annual Quality Counts report, a national report card that tracks policy and performance in sixcategories.
The state got an overall numerical score of 81.7 despite earning a D in the area of kindergarten-through-12th grade achievement.
The state excelled, however, in the area of standards, tests and accountability, and in categories regardingthe teaching profession and “transitions and alignment,” which cover the connections the state has developed between kindergarten-through-12th education and earlychildhood education, postsecondary education and the work force.
Education efforts nationwide earned a C in the 17th annual report published by Education Week, a national education newspaper. The report is being released today.
Maryland ranked first in the country with a B+ and a score of 87.5 percent. Massachusetts ranked second with a score of 84.1 percent;New York, with 83.1 percent, ranked third; and Virginia, with 82.9 percent, was fourth, all earning Bs. Florida ranked sixth at 81.1, followed by Georgia, New Jersey, West Virginia, Kentucky, Vermont and Ohio, all of which received a grade of B-.
“Arkansans should beproud to again be ranked fifth in the nation for overall K-12 education,” Gov. Mike Beebe said about the latest report.
“While we can take a brief moment to celebrate this news with our students, teachers, and administrators, we must then get right back to work,” he continued. “We made progress in two important categories this year, but there is still room for improvement in our push toward excellence in education.”
The governor, as well as other Arkansas lawmakers and education policymakers, have proudly pointed in recent years to the Arkansas ranking, which has improved from 10th place in 2010, sixth place in 2011 and, most recently, fifth place in the nation. Others, however, have homed in on the state’s poor showing in the studentachievement category.
Arkansas Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell acknowledged both views of the report.
“Quality Counts validates what we already know: Arkansas’ public school system has effective policies and reforms,” Kimbrell said in response to the latest version of the report. “But this report also confirms we must expect continued improvement in student achievement and seek innovations to expand learning opportunities,” he added.
The state’s overall score is based on results in six broad categories. Scores in three of the categories are based on updated data in this year’s report while the scores in the remaining three categories are repeated from the 2012 report.
Arkansas ranked second in the nation and earned an A in the transitions category, helped by the fact that the state has policies aligning early-education and kindergarten-learning standards to K-12 school standards. Additionally, the state has defined college and work readiness, as well as required collegepreparation classes for highschool graduation. The state fell short in only one area - aligning high-school tests with the post-secondary education system.
P reviously, Arkansas ranked first in the transitions category but Georgia moved up.
Arkansas earned a C and ranked 26th in the nation in the school-finance category, which takes into account per pupil expenditures in the state, spending on education as a percent of a state’s taxable resources and spending disparities across districts. Arkansas previously ranked 27th in the finance category.
Arkansas received a C- and a rank of 42nd in the nation - improved from 44th - in the report’s “chance for success” category, which incorporates data on family income, parent education, parental employment, as well as the percentages of student enrollment in preschool and K-12 schools, graduation and student performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress exams.
Regarding categories not updated this year and unchanged from the 2012 report, Arkansas received a D and a rank of 34th in the elementary and secondary performance category.
That category includes not only performance on the National Assessment exam but also the disparity in student test results based on family income, percentage of students who score at advanced levels; any change in the highschool graduation rate; and performance on Advanced Placement exams that can result in college credit for high-achieving students.
In the “standards, assessments and accountability” category, also unchanged from the 2012 report, Arkansas earned an A and ranked sixth in the country.
Kimbrell predicted that ongoing efforts by lawmakers and policymakers to make academic programs more challenging will be reflected in future Quality Counts reports. Schools statewide are in the midst of putting into place the new national Common Core State Standards in math and English/language arts.
“I have no doubt as our schools implement these new standards and policies, Arkansas will improve its rankings by closing the gap with the nation in student achievement,” Kimbrell said.
Arkansas received a B+ and ranked second in the teaching profession category, unchanged from the 2012 Quality Counts report. That is based on the state’s efforts to educate teachers, discourage out-of-field teaching, link teachers to student achievement, require teacher evaluations by trained evaluators, pilot performance-pay programs and the award of incentives for national teacher certification.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/10/2013