The 2016 edition of Education Week’s Quality Counts report—Called to Account: New Directions in School Accountability—examines how new state and federal strategies are transforming the assessment of school performance and reshaping the consequences for poor results.
In addition to the special focus on accountability, Quality Counts 2016 features the report’s hallmark report card on the state of education for the nation and states. This year, the Education Week Research Center issued overall summative grades, as well as updated scores in each of the three categories that comprise the report’s grading rubric: Chance-for-Success, K-12 Achievement, and School Finance. The nation received an overall grade of C on its 2016 report card, with a score of 74. 4 out of a possible 100 points, virtually the same result as a year ago. Most states (32) earned grades somewhere between a C-minus and a C-plus. Massachusetts took first place among the states, with a B-plus and a score of 86.8, followed by three states that received Bs: New Jersey (85.1), Vermont (83.8), and Maryland (82.7). At the other end of the spectrum, Nevada was at the bottom of the list, earning a D with a score of 65.2, one of three states to receive Ds, along with Mississippi (65.6), and New Mexico (65.9). And in a major bright spot, the District of Columbia jumped to 28th place in this year’s report from 38th last year, earning a grade of C with a score of 72.9.
For the full Quality Counts 2016 report, see www.edweek.org/go/qc16 .
For State Highlights Reports for the 50 states and the District of Columbia, see www.edweek.org/go/qc16shr .
For an interactive map and report card for delving into Quality Counts’ signature grading rubric, see www.edweek.org/go/qc16map.
For an interactive Grading Calculator that lets users try their hand at grading by assigning different weights for the importance of various outcomes, see www.edweek.org/go/qc16calculate
