For the most part, Virginians are satisfied with their schools. There are pockets of excellence (the Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County) and pockets of dysfunction (Petersburg city schools), but overall we do pretty well. Our educational achievements aren’t stellar, but they’re better than the national average. There is no groundswell for radically restructuring the educational system in the Old Dominion and there are few problems the political class believes that a little more money couldn’t solve.
Now comes the 2010 State School Report Card published by the Heartland Institute, which should serve as a wake-up call. Nay, it should serve as a banging cowbell in our ears.
Virginia didn’t merely rank below average in the analysis, which combined learning progress, fiscal efficiency and academic standards. It didn’t just rank in the bottom quintile. The Old Dominion tied with Arkansas for the bottom spot… dead last. Every member of the General Assembly, every school board member and every parent needs to read this report and then start raising holy hell.
The abysmal performance of the Virginia educational system may not be readily apparent. After all, Virginia students outperform their peers nationally. But it is widely acknowledged that educational achievement is highly correlated to socioeconomic status, and Virginia ranks among the Top 10 states by income and among the bottom states by poverty. Given the demographic characteristics of the population, we would expect Virginia to out-perform other states by a wide margin. The real issue is what are the schools doing with the raw material handed them? What is (to borrow a phrase from a recent post), the schools’ educational value added?
American students’ achievement scores on international test scores have stagnated even while the United States has pumped more money into education. Per-pupil spending has increased by more than 65% over the past 25 years in inflation-adjusted dollars. Meanwhile, achievement and money spent per pupil varies widely between the states. The purpose of this report is to identify the states that are achieving the most per dollar spent in the hope that other states might replicate whatever it is that they are doing right.
Here is a synopsis of how the index is compiled.
Learning. This sub-index is based on gains or loss in National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test scores for mathematics and reading between 2005 and 2009, measuring the progress of 4th graders in their march to 8th grade, or what the Institute calls time gain. The Institute also calculates a grade gain, which compares math and reading competency of 4th graders and 8th graders during the same year.
Efficiency. This sub-index measures how much each state spends per student, adjusted for the state cost of living. The study examines cost per graduate, cost per student, cost per unit of learning gain over time, the cost of learning gain between grades, and the ratio of teachers to staff.
Standards. This component incorporates a rating on how state proficiency scores compare to NAEP scores. “To the extent that a state claimed higher proficiency levels than the national test score results reveal,” the authors explain, “the state’s standard is taken as commensurately lower.” This index also includes a score based on a different methodology for calculating the rigor and content of a state’s math, reading and science standards.
So, here’s how Virginia stacks up:
Learning achievement … 43rd in the country
Efficiency … 48th
Standards … 32nd
Overall .. 50th (tied with Arkansas)
Unfortunately, say the authors, there is little empirical data to suggest why some states do well (Arizona scored first in the country) while others do badly. But they point to an index last updated in 2001 — the Education Freedom Index — for possible answers. This index measured the extent to which educational choice existed in a state, taking into account charter school options, subsidies for private-school choice, school choice within public school districts, and the regulatory environment for home schooling. By this measure a decade ago, Virginia ranked 44th in the country. (Interestingly, Arizona ranked No. 1.)
In looking to explain Virginia’s dismal performance, consider: We have the fewest number of charter schools of any state in the country. We have zero vouchers. We have a highly centralized school system in which the state educational bureaucracy in Richmond dictates policies to local school boards. The only Educational Freedom measure by which we fare well, I believe, is the considerable latitude we give to home schooling. In other words, the Virginia school system is about as far removed from a market-based school system as anyone in the United States has managed to devise. It is less accountable to parents and more insulated from its failures. It is more hidebound, more rigid and more resistant to change than almost any other.
The vast majority of widely touted educational “reform” initiatives in Virginia do no more than tinker at the margins. Our public dialog is bankrupt. Both the public and the politicians are in denial. There is no sign of meaningful change on the horizon. Fear for future generations.