Someone has come up with a “Smartest State Award“:
States were graded on 21 factors, including student achievement and attendance, positive outcomes, strong student-teacher relationships and school district efficiency. Other factors are the number of high school graduates, reading, writing and math proficiency, percent of school-age kids in public schools, high school drop out rates, student-teacher ratios and class size.
“The Smartest State Award recognizes those states that are committed to students and teachers, emphasize excellence in the classroom and ensure that public elementary and secondary schools are efficiently-run,” said Scott Morgan, president of Morgan Quitno Press.
Vermont tops the list.
Alas, Tennessee, at 41, is much closer to the dumbest state than the smartest one. Wasn’t that lottery supposed to make us all smarter?