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.
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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
Acknowledgments
Staff assistant Sarah Kim played a crucial role in this project. A recent Georgetown University graduate with an eye for detail and a knack for crunching numbers, she helped to develop the indicators, gathered and crunched the requisite data, and monitored data quality throughout. In addition, she oversaw interns Tal Kerem, Coby Loup, and Jennifer DeBoer as they collected, checked, and re-checked this information.
Fordham president Chester E. Finn, Jr. and vice president Michael J. Petrilli made final decisions regarding the inclusion of indicators, the grading scales, and the report's editorial positions.
To produce the state write-ups that accompany the data, the Foundation secured the services of several veteran journalists (among them: Jolee Barry, Michael Leaser, Andrew Mollison, Meghan Mullen, Kate Rix, Alexander Russo, and Adam Schaeffer) who applied their talents to the task of telling the stories behind the numbers. The difficult job of tracking down and interviewing education, political, and advocacy leaders was further complicated by the fact that most of the work was completed in the middle of summer. They got the job done, however, and their essays provide a closer look at the sometimes hopeful, sometimes frustrating, often ambiguous world of education reform at the state level.
Martin A. Davis, Jr., senior writer and editor at the Foundation, oversaw these writers and their work. His task was eased by freelance editor Peter Meyer and Foundation associate writer and editor Liam Julian, who edited the many drafts submitted by our writers. In addition, Liam handled much of the proofreading.
Finally, the design talents of Holli Rathman are evident throughout these pages. Her keen eye and commitment to producing readable pages on tight deadlines will be appreciated by all who spend time with this report.