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Quality Counts report finds, yawn, Ohio with a B-minus

Mike Lafferty
1.6.2009

Ohio education is beginning to look like Ohio State in post-season football--OK, but not nearly good enough, according to the 2009 Education Week Quality Counts survey, released online today (see here). The state school system got its usual B-minus, the same as last year.

The state's overall score was 81, compared with the U.S. average of 76.2. Ohio ranked 6th in a comparison of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia.

By categories, Ohio rated B-minus in overall chance of student success (compared with C-plus nationally). In other categories Ohio scored C-minus in K-12 achievement, A in assessment and accountability, C-plus in teaching profession, B-minus in school finance, and B-minus in transitions and alignment.

Maryland was the top-scoring state at 84.7 for a B, followed by Massachusetts (84.6) and New York (84.1). The lowest-scoring states were Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, and, at dead last, New Mexico with a score of 67.2, good enough for a D-plus.

At least nobody failed, but maybe Ed Week just doesn't want to cause any psychological damage.

This article was updated on 1/8/09 to correct a factual error.

Tags: Louisiana Maryland Massachusetts Mississippi Nevada New Mexico New York Ohio Washington
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A native of Dayton, Ohio, Mike Lafferty is a freelance journalist and former reporter for The Columbus Dispatch newspaper, where he covered science, environment and agriculture news. Lafferty was the editor-in-chief of the "Ohio's Natural Heritage" book. He formerly worked for the Associated Press, the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

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