Report: Vermont best for poor students, falls behind other countries
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By Cristina Kumka
STAFF WRITER - Published: September 2, 2010
If you are a student with an economic disadvantage, Vermont is the state where you are best off, according to a new report commissioned by a nonpartisan group that offers policy-making advice to legislators nationwide.
The 16th edition of the Report Card on American Education, by the American Legislative Exchange Council, ranks Vermont the top state in test scores among its low-income, fourth- and eighth-graders.
West Virginia was ranked last in education performance, according to the report.
The Green Mountain State tops all others for its free- and reduced-lunch students’ math and reading scores on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and improvement in those scores from 2003, according to the report.
“The authors asked themselves, if you were an economically disadvantaged student, in which state would you best succeed?” said Dave Myslinski, director of the Council’s Education Task Force.
The authors of the report, Dr. Matthew Ladner, Andrew T. LeFevre and Dan Lips, agreed Vermont was the state.
NAEP data came from the U.S. Department of Education, according to Myslinski.
The authors of the report used data from 2003 — the first year NAEP began administering math and reading exams, and has done so every year since then.
Scores from that year were compared to the scores from 2009 to rank a state’s gain in improvement.
Only scores from 2009 were used to rank a state’s overall academic performance, according to the report.
On average, Vermont fourth- and eighth-graders achieved math and reading scores 8 to 10 points higher last year compared to 2003.
The lowest-ranked state, West Virginia, dropped four points in eighth-grade reading last year compared to 2003 and gained 1 point in fourth-grade math.
Nationally, 49 percent of all low-income fourth-graders scored “below basic” in reading.
But the report (available at www.alec.org) said Vermont had a long way to go when it comes to education reform.
Vermont ranked last, scoring a “D,” in education reform, for failing to, among other areas, identify quality teachers and remove ineffective ones, according to the report.
According to the council, states that have historically performed low on tests, have realized how bad they are and enacted good policies that reflect in their ranking.
“For example, if West Virginia put in all these policies last year, they probably would bump up high (in the next edition of the report),” Myslinski said.
One of the downfalls of the report, he said, is that researchers don’t know how long states have had policies in place and how effective they have become.
Another graph included in the report showed that 2006 math scores of 15-year-old students from the United States overall, compared to other countries worldwide, ranked sixth from the bottom.
Students from Finland had the highest average scores in math and science that year.
“It’s pretty abysmal,” Myslinski said. “Just because Vermont is one in the U.S. ... it has a long way to go before that state is competitive internationally.”
The report also asks if American students are learning more today.
“The average public school student cost taxpayers $4,060 in 1970, but $9,391 in 2006 (adjusted for inflation). Are students learning more today then they did in 1970? No. They really are not,” according to the report.
“If schools today were as efficient as those in 1970 were, lawmakers could reduce state spending and tax burdens by 25 percent.”
cristina.kumka@rutland herald.com.
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