Officials report Georgia leads the South on 2015 ACT scores

[bu2]

Originally Posted by AfternoonCoffee

I also wonder how much varies district to district in other states. Seems like here in GA, there is a WIDE variation. Perhaps not as much in Ohio?

My kids' Kindergarten classes have all had (at minimum) reading, writing, and math. One of my kids didn't take off with reading as quickly as the others, but was still slightly above "grade level" but, as the Kindergarten teacher said to me, "he's not behind, but he's not burning any bridges either." With the point being, neither of us were worried about the child, but most of the kids in the class were moving along more quickly. And this was a kid who could independently read, but maybe its different in different schools/districts. Interesting though, if we're looking at state scores and averages, and yet there are big differences on a school level...

There's huge variation everywhere. Now Ohio doesn't have as many poor rural districts as Georgia does, but it does have poor urban districts (like the one DeKalb's superintendant before last came from-Lorain?).

I went to schools in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Texas and my kids go to school in Georgia. The weakest schools were the ones in Indiana. The best were in Texas. The school in Ohio wasn't better than the one in Kentucky.

[bu2]

The Broad prize for urban districts has been dominated by the south and west.

Everywhere I have been, the best districts in the area have been in upper middle class professional areas. Those parents demand good schools and can afford to pay taxes for it, but don't necessarily head off for private schools. There are simply a higher number of those jobs in the south and west than in the Midwest anymore.

Ohio actually has been pretty much a disaster for schools in many areas. When I was there a neighboring district closed for 2 months during Christmas because they didn't have the money and people refused to raise taxes. That happened to several districts in the state. About 20 years later, I was reading about the same things happening to some of those same districts. I've never heard of that happening anywhere but Ohio.

[Listener2307]

Originally Posted by demonta4

Officials report Georgia leads the South on 2015 ACT scores

That's nice.

But only 53% of Georgia students take the ACT. Alabama tests 80%; Mississippi 100%; Tennessee 100%; South Carolina 58%.
On the other hand, the high school graduation rate is continuously rising in Georgia, so I don't mean to be overly critical - just encouraging a little "Truth in Advertising".
2014 ACT National and State Scores | Average Scores by State | ACT

The article decided to put it this way, with no mention of their figure representing only the top 53% of the students:

The number of Georgia high school students taking the ACT increased by 7.8 percent compared to the year prior, with a total of 54,653 students taking the test in 2015.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by bu2

The Broad prize for urban districts has been dominated by the south and west.

Everywhere I have been, the best districts in the area have been in upper middle class professional areas. Those parents demand good schools and can afford to pay taxes for it, but don't necessarily head off for private schools. There are simply a higher number of those jobs in the south and west than in the Midwest anymore.

Ohio actually has been pretty much a disaster for schools in many areas. When I was there a neighboring district closed for 2 months during Christmas because they didn't have the money and people refused to raise taxes. That happened to several districts in the state. About 20 years later, I was reading about the same things happening to some of those same districts. I've never heard of that happening anywhere but Ohio.

Yep. Not so elitist to demand nothing but private education, but do have high standards. And often were products of public schools themselves.