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If you’re a parent, finding good schools for your children can be an arduous task and knowing where to look - and live - can be a big help.
A recent WalletHub analysis ranked the best and worst public school systems across the 50 states and the District of Columbia, using 32 key metrics including performance, funding, safety, class size and instructor credentials.
Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maryland topped the list as the states with the best-performing public schools, while New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arizona fared the worst.
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont praised his state’s high ranking -- at number two -- on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Connecticut was again ranked as one of the top states with the best school systems in the U.S. There are so many exemplary teachers in our state we need to recognize for their dedication to our schools and our students.”
Cale Bushman, an interim superintendent from Wisconsin, which ranked fifth, told WAOW: “We’ve been very beneficial; education [in Wisconsin] is excellent: there’s great opportunities for kids, there’s great learning, families are wonderful, they’re involved, they care about their kids’ experiences.”
The report compared states across two dimensions – quality and safety – on a scale of 100 points. Quality, with the highest share of 80 points, included measures such as math and reading test scores, dropout rate, pupil-teacher ratio, share of licensed public K-12 teachers, share of high school class scoring at least a 3 on Advanced Placement exam and high school graduation rates among low-income students.
Safety, with a share of 20 points, included youth incarceration rate, share of threatened or injured high school students, number of school shootings, bullying incidence rate and existence of digital learning plan.
States in the northeast have for years sported the highest per-pupil spending, while those in the west and south have typically spent the least.
“Money matters. Anyone who tells you otherwise is being dishonest or coy,” wrote Gerard Robinson, Professor of Practice in Public Policy and Law at the University of Virginia, in the report.
But there’s no simple economic formula that tells the whole picture.
“A success sequence for Pre-K-12 school children isn’t an either-or competition. Influences cross boundaries. This includes the quality of school culture, and neighborhood culture, and family culture, and peer culture,” Robinson said.
Massachusetts, which was ranked first in the WalletHub analysis, had the best eighth grade math and fourth grade reading scores, and came in second place for forth grade math and eight grade reading. It also boasted the highest percentage of students who received a score of 3 or better on an AP exam. The test are part of classes that allow college-credits and are offred in roughly 70 percent of public high schools.
Connecticut, coming in second, had the best ACT scores across the 50 states and the fifth-highest percentage of students who scored at least a 3 on an AP exam. Its school safety also stood out: Connecticut had the lowest presence of illegal drugs on school campuses, the third-lowest rate of youth incarceration and the sixth-lowest percentage of students bringing weapons to school.
The third-ranking state, Maryland, ranked 11th on SAT scores and 13th on ACT scores. It had the 10th highest share of schools ranked in the top 700 schools nationwide.
Specific measures, such as test scores, did not always correlate to overall ranking, highlighting the comprehensive nature of the report. West Virginia, despite lagging behind the rest of the country at number 46, had the lowest dropout rate, while Tennessee, ranked 32, came in second.
The reverse was also true in some high-ranking states: Delaware, with an overall ranking of 14, had the 48th highest math test scores, and Florida, at number 11, had the 47th highest median SAT scores.
WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe told The Independent that the study may be useful for parents or prospective parents who are considering relocating or making major life changes.
But she noted that local contexts are best for assessing the quality of education: “At the end of the day, it’s always best to speak with people who actually live there. These metrics [of the analysis] do a great job of painting a very broad picture but it doesn’t necessarily capture the sentiments of the people who are in that particular area.”
Other reports have released similar findings. U.S. News & World Report put Florida, Utah and Massachusetts at the top of the list for overall education, which includes K-12 and higher education metrics. On its K-12 list, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Connecticut filled out the first three spots.
Insider Monkey placed the District of Columbia, Vermont and New Jersey at the top spots, relying on three metrics – per-pupil expenditure, pupil-to-teacher ratio and bachelor’s degree attainment – to calculate its rankings.
Happe added that for voters who will “go to the polls in November, if [education] is something you are passionate about and want to see improved, you should be considering where the different candidates stand on policies that might help with improving that.”
