Recently, Education Week released the 19th edition of its annual Quality Counts report. This year’s installment explores the complex landscape that defines early-childhood services and programs across the country. To complement the report’s journalism, the Education Week Research Center also conducted an original analysis of participation in early-education programs, poverty-based gaps in enrollment, and trends over time. The center’s Early Education Index grades the states based on federal data across eight critical indicators.
After a one-year hiatus, Quality Counts resumes its long-standing tradition of grading the nation and states on their overall education performance. For Quality Counts 2015, those grades return in a newer, leaner form that focuses on outcomes rather than on policy and processes. States are ranked on a range of key education indicators, and of awarding summative letter grades and scores for the states for three mainstay elements of Quality Counts: the Chance for Success Index, the K-12 Achievement Index, and school finance.
The nation receives an overall grade of C on its 2015 report card, with a score of 74.3 out of a possible 100 points. This marks a decline from a C-plus in 2013, when summative grades were last issued under the report’s previous grading framework. Massachusetts finishes first this year with a grade of B and a score of 86.2. Also earning grades of B this year are New Jersey, 2013 front-runner Maryland, and Vermont. At the other end of the grading scale, Mississippi earns a D and ranks last, with New Mexico and Nevada also posting grades of D.
The complete contents of Quality Counts 2015 plus special online-only features are now available at www.edweek.org/go/qc15.
State and National Highlights Reports
These downloadable reports help you quickly assess where your state stands in the national rankings and on dozens of key indicators. The highlights reports are available at: www.edweek.org/go/qc15shr.
State Report Cards Map [Interactive]
This interactive map offers a quick way to examine state-by-state grades and summary data.
