Arkansas Fifth In Education Week Survey

For the second consecutive year, Arkansas ranked fifth in Education Week magazine’s annual Quality Counts report. The state is earning high marks in areas related to school policies, while trailing in student achievement.

Arkansas earned a B-, or 81.7 grade overall. It ranked fifth in 2012, sixth in 2011, and 10th in 2010.

The nation as a whole earned a C+, or 76.9. Maryland ranked first for the fifth straight year with an 87.5. As in 2012, Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia ranked second through fourth.

The report tracks state performances in six areas. Three were updated this year: “chance for success”; “school finance”; and “transitions and alignment,” or the way that K-12 schools align and lead into other areas of education, such as college and workforce training. The other three areas: “K-12 achievement”; “the teaching profession”; and “standards, assessment and accountability” were not updated from last year.

Arkansas scored best in the transitions and alignment category, earning perfect marks in early-childhood and workforce education subcategories and a 90 in college readiness.

It also scored well in two categories not updated from last year by earning a B+ in the teaching profession and an A in standards, assessments and accountability.

Also not updated was the area where Arkansas scored worst, K-12 achievement, where the state has a D. Arkansas has a failing grade on students’ current performance and C’s in improvement as well as equity in poverty-based achievement gaps.

Arkansas earned low C’s in the other two updated categories. It was given a 71.5 in the chance for success category, which describes the link between education and life outcomes. In school finance, it was given a 73.7, which included a B+ for equitable distribution of resources but a failing grade in spending.

The state’s worst categories are those that reflect the actual goals of education: “K-12 achievement” and “chance for success.”

Ron Harder, policy director for the Arkansas School Boards Association, said the state is performing well in grades K-4 and may see more success as reforms take hold and future students work their way through the system. Moreover, Arkansas faces a number of socioeconomic challenges, such as high poverty rates, that make student achievement more challenging.

However, he pointed out that certain Arkansas schools have succeeded despite those challenges.  “I think the solutions are out there,” he said, “but it’s a high hurdle, and so we really do need to pick the successes. … It will take some creativity, and it will take some real dedication on the part of everybody – school boards, administrators and teachers – to have that belief and to say, yes, we have those demographics, but we’re better and more powerful than that.”

The closest neighboring states were Texas, 14th with a 79.4, and Louisiana, 15th with a 79. South Dakota was last for the second straight year.