PROVIDENCE – Massachusetts ranked first with a B in the annual report card about the state of education in the United States from Education Week, while Rhode Island finished 10th, receiving a grade of C+.
While this is the third year Rhode Island received a C+ grade, it did move up three spots from last year in the 2017 Quality Counts rankings released this week from Education Week, a national newspaper covering K-12 education policy. It also is the third year Massachusetts claimed the top spot.
The newspaper ranked all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
The nation as a whole received a grade of C, or 74.2 points out of 100.
The Ocean State had 79.4 points out of 100, compared with Massachusetts’ 86.5.
A state’s overall grade is the average of its scores on the three separate indices tracked by the report – chance for success, K-12 achievement index and school finance. Chance for success captured the role of education in a person’s life from cradle to career, while achievement index assesses the performance of a state’s public schools against 18 indicators capturing current achievement levels, improvements over time and poverty-based gaps. School finance examines educational expenditure patterns and the distribution of those funds within states.
In the three categories, Rhode Island’s best grade was B in school finance, ranking sixth, followed by a B- in chance for success, ranking 17th. The average state earned grades of C and C+ in those respective categories.
Rhode Island’s lowest category grade was C- in the achievement index, finishing 23rd and matching the average state’s grade.