Thank you - that shows Cali at #46... lowly Georgia (where i can assure you the public schools suck) is #40.
Those rankings are suspect. Out of 21 criteria, only 6 are based on student proficiency.
Do they rank states according to student's collective GPA?
of course not! that might make sense!
This is how they came to their conclusions:
METHODOLOGY--This fourth Smartest State designation is awarded based on 21 factors chosen from Morgan Quitnos annual reference book, Education State Rankings, 2005-2006.
Featuring four new factors, this years award de-emphasizes spending for public schools and instead measures states based on student achievement, positive outcomes and personal attention from teachers.
(As a result, rankings for this years Smartest State Award are not directly comparable to last years rankings.)
To calculate the Smartest State rankings, the 21 factors were divided into two groups: those that are negative for which a high ranking would be considered bad for a state, and those that are positive for which a high ranking would be considered good.
Rates for each of the 21 factors were processed through a formula that measures how a state compares to the national average for a given category.
The positive and negative nature of each factor was taken into account as part of the formula. Once these computations were made, the factors then were assigned equal weights.
These weighted scores then were added together to determine a states final score (SUM on the table above.)
This way, states are assessed based on how they stack up against the national average.
The end result is that the farther below the national average a states education ranking is, the lower (and less smart) it ranks.
The farther above the national average, the higher (and smarter) a state ranks.
This same methodology is used for our annual Healthiest State, Safest and Most Dangerous State and Safest/Dangerous City Awards.
Ooookay.
<a href="http://www.morganquitno.com/edrank.htm"> http://www.morganquitno.com/edrank.htm</a>
And it will come out looking like this:
Virginia at #7--Highest ranking red state