The Fordham Report 2006: How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children?
November 1, 2006
The Fordham Report 2006: How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children? appraises each state according to thirty indicators across three major categories: student achievement for low-income, African-American, and Hispanic students; achievement trends for these same groups over the last 10-15 years; and the state's track record in implementing bold education reforms. It finds that just eight states can claim even moderate success over the past 15 years at boosting the percentage of their poor or minority students who are at or above proficient in reading, math or science. In addition, most states making significant achievement gains--including California, Delaware, Florida, New York, Massachusetts, and Texas--are national leaders in education reform, indicating that solid standards, tough accountability, and greater school choice can yield better classroom results.
View the press release for this report
Contents
- Executive Summary
- Readers Guide
- Acknowledgments
- The Future of Education Reform
- Measuring Education Reform & Results--Achievement
- Measuring Education Reform & Results--Reform
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Appendix
Readers Guide
This report is deeply and unabashedly judgmental about what's important in education-what's working and what's not-in the 50 states. Readers will want to understand the values and policy preferences that underlie it. They may wish to start with Chester Finn's essay, "The Future of Education Reform," which explains Fordham's school reform principles. Next, one might turn to "Measuring Education Reform & Results," where we discuss the indicators used to generate the grades in this report. Here you will also find a snapshot of nationwide findings for student achievement, achievement trends, and education reform. Finally, in the individual state reports, you will find grades, detailed data, and brief essays about education reform and results for each jurisdiction.