Report Card on American Education: Ranking State K-12 Performance, Progress and Reform © 2014 American Legislative Exchange Council
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Report Card on American Education: Ranking State K-12 Performance, Progress and Reform © 2014 American Legislative Exchange Council All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior permission of the publisher. Published by: American Legislative Exchange Council 2900 Crystal City Drive Suite 600 Arlington, VA 22202 Phone: (202) 725-7764 Fax: (703) 373-0927 www.alec.org For more information, contact the ALEC Public Affairs office. Dr. Matthew Ladner and David J. Myslinski Lindsay Russell, director, Task Force on Education ISBN: 978-0-9853779-5-3 Report Card on American Education: K-12 Performance, Progress and Reform is published by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) as part of its mission to promote limited government, free markets and federalism. ALEC is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, voluntary membership organization of state legislators, industry representatives, research analysts and policy think tanks. ALEC is governed by a board of directors of state lawmakers, which is advised by the Private Enterprise Advisory Council representing business leaders and entrepreneurs. The American Legislative Exchange Council is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, public policy organization. Contributions are tax-deductible. Table of Contents About the Authors v Acknowledgements vi Foreword: Mike Pence, Governor of Indiana vii CHAPTER 1 : Education Reform: A Year in Review .......................................................................................1 North Carolina Lawmakers Go Big on K-12 Reform in 2013 2 D.C., Tennessee and Indiana See the Biggest Gains Between 2011 and 2013 NAEP 3 New Private Choice Programs and Expansions Abound in 2013 5 Course Access Programs Gain Ground 8 Special Needs Parental Choice Programs Continued to Advance in 2013 9 Lawmakers Enact Strong Improvements to Charter School Laws 10 More States Adopt “A” Through “F” School Letter Grades 12 Massive Open Online Courses Continued to Rapidly Expand in 2013 13 Taking Additional Steps in the Journey of a Thousand Miles 14 CHAPTER 2: A Decade Of Data On State Academic Achievement .................................................................17 Fourth-Grade Reading 24 Eighth-Grade Reading 27 Fourth-Grade Mathematics 28 Eighth-Grade Mathematics 28 States Making Progress on all Four NAEP Exams 29 Conclusion: Scattered Progress with Miles to Go 30 CHAPTER 3: Education Policy Grades and Academic Performance ...............................................................33 Public Categories 34 Academic Standards 34 Charter Schools 34 Homeschooling Regulation Burden Level 35 Private School Choice 35 Teacher Quality Policies 35 Digital Learning 35 Overall Policy Grade 35 Policy Grades Methodology 35 Ranking States on the Performance of General Education Low-Income Students 36 Additional Information 37 STATE SNAPSHOTS ......................................................................................................................................39 CHAPTER 4: New Approaches To the Challenges Of Urban Schooling ..........................................................91 State Academic Trends in Urban Schools 93 Naming District Names-District-Level NAEP Scores 95 Big News from the Big Easy 96 Charter Schools Lead the Way in District of Columbia Improvement 98 Bloomberg Era Ends in NYC with Small School Initiative Found a Success 102 Sign of the Times: Mayor Emanuel Battles Teacher Unions in the Windy City 103 Conclusion: The Clock is Ticking 104 APPENDICES ................................................................................................................................................106 Appendix A: Methodology for Ranking the States 106 Appendix B: Methodology for Grading the States 108 Appendix C: Index of Figures and Tables 110 Appendix D: Model Policies for K–12 Reform 111 Appendix E: Education Reform Organizations 120 About the Authors DR. MATTHEW LADNER Dr. Matthew Ladner is the senior advisor of policy and research for the Foundation for Excellence in Education. He previously served as vice president of research at the Goldwater Institute. Prior to join- ing Goldwater, Ladner was Director of State Projects at the Alliance for School Choice. Ladner has writ- ten numerous studies on school choice, charter schools and special education reform, and coauthored the Report Card on American Education: Ranking State K-12 Performance, Progress and Reform for the American Legislative Exchange Council. Ladner has testified before Congress, the United States Com- mission on Civil Rights and numerous state legislative committees. Ladner is a graduate of the Univer- sity of Texas at Austin and received both a Masters and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Universi- ty of Houston. Ladner is a senior fellow with the Foundation for Educational Choice and the Goldwater Institute. Ladner lives in Phoenix, Ariz., with his wife Anne and children Benjamin, Jacob and Abigail. DAVID J. MYSLINSKI David J. Myslinski serves as a communications specialist for the Foundation for Excellence in Education and was the state policy director for Digital Learning Now, focusing on digital education policies across all 50 states. Prior to joining the foundation, he served as the Education Task Force director at the Amer- ican Legislative Exchange Council, where he focused on digital learning, K-12 education reform, and high- er education policies on the state level. He is a coauthor of the Report Card on American Education: Ranking State K-12 Performance, Progress and Reform for ALEC, and currently serves on the ALEC Execu- tive Committee to the Task Force on Education and is a vice-chair of the Digital Learning Subcommittee. Myslinski has previously worked on state policies relating to health care and telecommunications. He is a graduate of Rutgers University. www.alec.org v Acknowledgments We wish to thank the following for making this Report Card on American Education possible: First, we thank the Allegheny Foundation and the Gleason Family Foundation for their generous sup- port for the creation and promotion of this book. The authors would like to specifically thank Lindsay Russell, director of the ALEC Task Force on Educa- tion, for her tireless work and guidance in the production of this publication. We also thank Lisa B. Nelson, Michael Bowman, Bill Meierling, Ashley Varner, Molly Fuhs, Jordan Con- rad and the professional staff of ALEC for their assistance in all aspects of this publication. vi Report Card on American Education Foreword by Mike Pence, Governor of Indiana ur greatest obligation as policymakers is accountability, 500 public schools improved a full to ensure that all of our children have ac- letter grade or more. Indiana’s gains on the “Na- cess to a quality education. Our nation’s tion’s Report Card” were in the top five for fourth Olong-term success is dependent upon the success grade reading and math, and our graduation rate of our children, whose early start in life depends is at an all-time high. Finally, more than 86 per- greatly on the quality of our schools. This funda- cent of Hoosier third graders passed the state mental truth was evident to our nation’s found- reading exam, a critical measure of future educa- ers. George Washington once said that a “virtu- tional success. ous and happy people will be found in the right We have also worked hard to ensure that our education of youth.” students have a rich set of post-secondary edu- In this era of global competition and mobile cation opportunities. While anyone who wants capital, we owe it to our children to ensure they to go to college should be able to do so, many are prepared to succeed in a changing world. If high-wage, high-demand jobs do not require a we fail our children in the classroom, they are four-year college degree. With strong biparti- more likely to fail in life. In Indiana, we’ve taken san support, Indiana is making career and voca- this lesson to heart. In our efforts to increase ac- tional education an option for every high school cess to quality schools, we enacted the most am- student in Indiana in order to ensure that all stu- bitious school choice program in the country in dents have a pathway to a career regardless of 2011. Last year, nearly 20,000 low-income Hoo- whether they decide to go to college. We are ex- siers used vouchers, or what we call Choice Schol- panding curricula in our high schools and devel- arships, to attend the school of their choice—a oping new partnerships with local businesses to 500 percent increase from the year before. This support career and technical education on a re- year, the number of applications has grown to gional basis. nearly 30,000. In addition to the Choice Scholar- Because every child should start school pre- ships, more than 35,000 Indiana students are at- pared to learn, we developed a voluntary pre-K tending public charter schools across our state. voucher program for disadvantaged children in We have a strong commitment to high aca- Indiana. I have always believed the best pre-K demic standards in Indiana that is producing real program is a family that provides the kind of en- results. In 2013, under our A-F system of school richment that every child deserves, but too often www.alec.org vii FOREWORD low-income children need extra help. Targeted we have been, where we are, and most impor- pre-K programs can improve future education-