(in order)

5 Best States:
New Jersey
Iowa
Wisconsin
South Dakota
Minnestoa

5 WORST States:
South Carolina
Georgia
New York
New Mexico
Mississippi

What do you think about this? I am watching Oprah and she is doing a show on how the US was once #1 20 yrs ago and we are now #24 compared to countries like Canada, Germany, Hungary, and even poor countries. She said we are at a state emergency.

She said most Americans have NO CLUE how bad things really are w/ our school systems...

A girl that graduated w/ a 4.0 and was valedictorian went to college w/ absolutely no clue what was going on b/c her high school classes did not prepare her.

It makes me want to live one one of those top 5 states...My education came from WI and my highschool had great scores compared to others in our state. Education is extremely important.

This is scary to think about. These kids are our future...

wow:shock

This is smething that REALLY bothers me. In fact, Tony e-mailed Oprah about this issue lol.

South Dakota.... really??? i kinda have to question that one.

I saw that show today too. I was very upset with it. I am in SC, I am glad that my daughter is only going to be here for another year. She is going into the 3rd grade so maybe she be affect to much. I think that she is doing well now. We really do alot of work on our own at home.

One student commented on how a kid that dropped out is making $500 a week and how he thinks that's pretty good :no

I saw that show today too. I was very upset with it. I am in SC, I am glad that my daughter is only going to be here for another year. She is going into the 3rd grade so maybe she be affect to much. I think that she is doing well now. We really do alot of work on our own at home.

:yes South carolina was a state we had considered. We won't now.

South Dakota.... really??? i kinda have to question that one.

Yeah, I am kinda questioning New Jersy also. Pennsylvania used to be in the top 5 and now NJ is? :suspect

Yeah, I am kinda questioning New Jersy also. Pennsylvania used to be in the top 5 and now NJ is? :suspect

NJ was 88%

:yes South carolina was a state we had considered. We won't now.
:thumbsup I am glad that you are planning on NOT coming here. I would not recommend this place to anyone. We can't wait to leave.

CA schools suck, atleast in this area!!!!

DAMN, PA got bumped all the way to #9!! Well, atleast it's still in the top 10. :shrug

Oh, here is where you can see the list: Smartest States (http://www.governmentguide.com/research_and_education/smartstate.adp)

CA schools suck, atleast in this area!!!!

CA is #43 :worried

Oh, here is where you can see the list: Smartest States (http://www.governmentguide.com/research_and_education/smartstate.adp)

Oprah's showed different results :shrug That's probably a more updated list though, who knows when this Oprah show was done.

CA schools suck, atleast in this area!!!!

yeah, my db went to school in Long Beach, CA and he said his schools sucked! then my cousins live up in Oakland (I'm a cali baby!) and their education SUCKS!! i'm in SC now and my cousin goes to a high school here and she wrote a paper and wanted me to proof read it and she wrote the exact same way she SPEAKS!! the girl practically speks ebonics which is just annoying, IMO. i corrected her paper and then she said that her teacher doesn't care if she writes like that, that she usually gets good grades on them....:shock :wow :inshock :no that made me sooooooooo MAD!!!:mad :mad :mad

I'm not really surprised at the bottom states. However I am somewhat suprised Alabama wasn't lower on the list. I'll be glad to get my kids out of the school system they are in...

Rach- I'm from SC and I can say that there are really poor schools here...but there are also some really great ones! Dutch Fork (not the one I went too but near mine) is one of the 100 top schools in the US. Also my high school (very small, we graduated 100 people) is nationally accredited. It really and honestly just depends on where you choose. What pulls our scores down so low are the very very poor areas that just can't hold onto teachers because they can't afford to pay them. Anyways, lol, my point was don't give up on living in SC yet :ohno ...it's really great here, you just have to watch what district you are in :yes

yea right is vermont in the top 5!! i got sent to MA for school because the HS dropout rate in our town was like 63% or something crazy!! thats insane!!!:shrug

from the link jenifer posted


RankStateSum1Massachusetts18.432Connecticut15.783Vermont14.774New Jersey14.425Wisconsin9.626New York9.077Minnesota7.968Iowa7.809Pennsylvania7.5710Montana6.97

1. MA
2. CT
3. VT
4. NJ
5. WI
6. NY
7. MN
8. IA
9. PA
10. MT

well in texas we don't have a great state school system but there are good ones if you look. for example i went to katy isd and my classes prepared me great for college and i didn't try. however if you go out into the valley or into hisd or the hill country the school systems aren't that great. yeah our country's school infrastructure is failing completely. they need a major overhaul

texas is 33...don't know if that's great but at least we aren't 50

:thinking I have friends who moved from Iowa to CA and she had to homeschool her kids for a year before she could put them in school here. The school told her that they would be to far behind:dunno

The schools in general SUCK. That's why so many seniors CAN'T pass the proficiency exam that is BASIC math and language!! It's sad that they can graduate but can't read well enough to fill out a job application:nutts We homeschooled our kids for 5 years for that reason. They are in pretty good schools now but I stay on top of them and they ALWAYS do extra work at home.

i plan on sticking my children in those pre-preschool/pre-k schools. one of those learning daycares. i was homeschoold for part of the time too. i also plan on making them do extra work when they get to important concepts (i.e. fractions, adding, subtraction) and they will take advanced classes if possible. i love being in school and i want my kids to as well.

I've often SERIOUSLY thought about homeschooling because of how bad our schools have gotten. Not JUST with grades and cirriculum, but with EVERYTHING. Its really sad and scary. I still have not totally voided the idea of homeschooling. We'll see once we get moved, I guess.

I've often SERIOUSLY thought about homeschooling because of how bad our schools have gotten. Not JUST with grades and cirriculum, but with EVERYTHING. Its really sad and scary. I still have not totally voided the idea of homeschooling. We'll see once we get moved, I guess.

I have been seriously considering home schooling because of how bad schools are getting too :( There is a good chance we'll be in SC in 1 1/2 years when Alex is already in school and this really bothers me :(

crazy, I think it depends on your area and such too. When we move from here to Il. I am a little worried cause their test score are a little lower, but when I researched other areas there, it made is difference in the test scores. :dunno
I thought about homeschooling too, but decided against it, maybe I should think about it again.

RI is #23. The Providence school system is probably what is throwing off the state's score. I interned at a Providence high school for a year and saw how little the kids were learning. It turned my off from working in a school system.

This state has no excuse to have such a low score. It's the smallest state w/ one basic metropolitan area. It's so freaking corrupt here that no positive change is ever made. :(

More reason to move back to CT when I have kids.

It really depends on where you live and its a shame. I/my children went to school in Northern California (Alameda/Oakland) and the difference between different areas is like night and day. On a scale of 1-10...a school a block away can have a 7 point difference and its just unacceptable. I find myself fighting my way into the schools out of our district or city ... just to provide a better education for them. We were lucky enough to find a christian school that didn't cost as much as a mecedes...lol...and the education was unbelievable. She learned so much from them. I have always made a point to supplement their education at home because of the bad school systems.
We are facing the same problem (actually worse) here in San Diego. There is only one public middle school in our area and the scores are terrible and there are absolutley no activities to keep the students occupied or motivated in sports and academics. I am scrambling to find a suitable school and it seems virtually impossible while staying in this area. There are million dollar homes but a concrete bottom school with no sports or challenging academics....don't get it. I only throw in the home value because usually ... if you have a nicer area ... you have a nicer school...not the case here. I am now trying to figure out how to get her into another district...although it will be so out of the way. What I don't understand is how they can allow one school to do so poorly and another to do so well. You have schools on the east coast that are so challenging with AP courses in junior high, organized sports, art, theatre, music, etc. and yet other places have children sharing books...SHARING BOOKS. It just makes no sense to me whatsoever. Its so infuriating and sad.

Hmmm.... Well, that depends on how you look at it. I know that some of NY schools are really really good. We probably have some of the best and some of the worst schools. It depends on what area you're in.... Harlem might not have a very good school, but some of the private schools around here do.

I agree that it depends on the area
My kids were in a "good" school in Norfolk and were told that they would be ahead when we got here, but boy were they wrong. All of my kids were behind bad when we got here and they are paying the price now.
There should be an across the board system so that everyone is on the same level

I did not watch the show....but I am surprised that Hawaii is not in the WORST FIVE~~~~


Most people here HATE THE SCHOOLS.

~~~

I have no kids so I can not give first hand experiences....but I would have to say I have heard 95% BAD

We are lucky to have found a great school in san diego. They have high test scores, plus they still have extra curricular activites. I don't even care that we have to pay for them. They still do gym a couple times a week and have a music program for 4th graders. I believe they have an onsite art teacher as well. There are good and bad schools everywhere. You just have to do your research and talk to other parents.

I did not watch the show....but I am surprised that Hawaii is not in the WORST FIVE~~~~


Most people here HATE THE SCHOOLS.

~~~

I have no kids so I can not give first hand experiences....but I would have to say I have heard 95% BAD

Yea, I was surprised they weren't either :dunno I was happy to see CT was #2 though. I knew it would be at least top 10. We couldn't be happier with the schools our children attend. :)

i love the school that my kids are going too. so far i have only experience with this one school and the one in new orleans. Savannah was way ahead out there.... but new orleans schools have never been known for being good.

i havent looked into the middle or high schools here. i dont really have a reason too. we are looking to leave san diego in 3 years. so they will all still be in elem school.

It's incredibly sad. I remember in college how shocked I was to find out that some freshmen students had never written a research paper, didn't know how to research, what they didn't know.

I think my high school education was pretty good but I also wanted to learn. At least I was prepared for college when I got there.

Surprised Hawaii isn't one of the worst 5 states actually.

I grew up in Southern Cali and had an excellent school district, probably something to do with the higher income bracket everyone was in but we had great schools. Two blocks over, there were some sad schools, people graduating that can't even spell. :no

Not all MS schools are that bad. We had 4 national merit semi finalists in my senior year.

It dosn't surprise me. Australia has prettttty good schooling- its much better then private schooling aswell. I just hope that when i have children, and they are ready to go to school- the US government has got off their asses and started to help the education department with funds for a brighter future. I dunno why they are kidding themselves- children are the future.

I watched that yesterday and as a soon to be teacher found it so sad! It reminded me why I didn't go to public school and Taylor will never be in one!

unfortunately not everyone can afford a private/prep school. i hope that i can homeschool my children as long as i can and encourage them to learn more than what they teach in classrooms. imho it doesn't matter how horrible your school district is you can still learn more than you get 'taught' in school. my aunt went to this horrible little po-dunk college in rural wisconsin when she joined the convent (she left and is currently married and is trying to have a baby, anyway) and she graduated with a 4.0 and honors but she went out and learned more about whatever they were teaching. she took the incentive.

I agree that it depends on the area
My kids were in a "good" school in Norfolk and were told that they would be ahead when we got here, but boy were they wrong. All of my kids were behind bad when we got here and they are paying the price now.
There should be an across the board system so that everyone is on the same level

i do think there needs to be a standard curriculum across the board too. too many kids can get out of high school with math models instead of algebra, and the knock of chemistry class. at my high school we had a 22, 24 and 24 distinguished program. the 22 was basically 3 years of science, 3 years of math (algebra, geometry, math models [word problems] instead of algebra 2) and only 3 years of english. for the 24 plan you need 4 years of science, 4 years of math, 4 years of english, 3 foreign language credits, etc etc. the distinguished plan was the same as the 24 hour plan except you had to have at least 6 AP credits.

I know it depends on the area you live in. We were stationed in MS before coming to HI, but we lived in Ocean Springs, they have some of the top schools in the nation. Then we moved to Hawaii, and the schools are horrible. We live in housing so most of the kids at the schools are military children. The schools are too crowded, class sizes average around 32 kids.

Counties get some of their money from property taxes, so if you live in an area with a high cost of living, the schools will be better. They get more money so they have more to spend on schools.

I have heard good things about Ocean Springs but you couldnt pay me to live on the coast right now. The bay bridge is still out. My school district is a level 5 so not too shabby :)

When we were getting to move to MS from FL I was really worried about the schools. Everyone we talked to said live in Ocean Springs, the schools are great!! They were right, it cost us more to live there, but worth it for my kids. I would'nt want to be there now, and I am very glad that were gone before Katrina hit.

You must be stationed at Gulfport, my husband was on a precom down in Pascagoula, needless to say I wasn't living down there!!

Yep, he's stationed in Gulfport but we live outside of Hattiesburg. Cheaper and a little less hectic up here.