Quality Counts gives New York a B-minus in education

On Board Online • March 2, 2015

By Gayle Simidian
Research Analyst

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said repeatedly said that New York spends more per pupil than other states in the nation but doesn't perform up to par. A recently published comparison of states supports the first contention but not the second.

Vermont spends the most per student ($18,882), according to Quality Counts 2015, an annual review of national education performance data by the research arm of Education Week. At $17,326 per pupil, New York was ranked fourth among the states in spending per student.

In overall performance, New York was ranked ninth in the nation. Quality Counts named Massachusetts the nation's educational leader, followed by New Jersey, Maryland and Vermont. Mississippi was ranked last.

Based on a variety of financial, social and achievement measures from preschool through adulthood, including employment statistics, New York got an overall grade of B-minus. No state got an A. The highest grade was Massachusetts' B-plus.

Resources used for the rankings come from a variety of sources, including the National Assessment of Educational Progress, U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics, as well as the research center's own examination of these data. Some of the data reviewed is recent while other data covers the span of a decade.

The review's ranking system consists of scores in three areas:

• "Chance for Success" for people of all ages. These include family economic status, preschool and kindergarten enrollment and adult employment.
• K-12 performance factors such as high school graduation rates and results on Advanced Placement tests.
• K-12 finance factors, including an assessment of equity (e.g., how academic performance is related to poverty).

New York has a higher preschool enrollment (57.7 percent) than the U.S. average (47.3 percent) and a greater percentage of adults with college degrees than the U.S. average (45.8 percent vs. 39.9 percent).

Compared to other states New York is positioned in the middle of the pack (20th) in terms of overall K- performance (e.g., achievement in reading and math, high school graduation rates and AP test results). Regarding individual factors of K-12 performance, New York scores higher than the U.S. average when it comes to higher marks on AP tests (34.6 percent vs. 25.7 percent) making it fifth in the nation.

But the state's high school graduation rate is consistently less than the U.S. average. For those receiving a diploma in 2012, New York's average graduation rate was 78 percent compared to the U.S. average of 81 percent. According to the report, 2010 data culled from another source also shows the state rate below the U.S. average (73.3 percent vs. 74.7 percent).

To read the Quality Counts 2015, a subscription to Education Week is required. Go to www.edweek.com.