Public education in NJ is very good, no matter how you slice it

Interesting:

Surprise: Florida and Texas Excel in Math and Reading Scores

"A report released Monday by the Urban Institute has adjusted the raw scores for each state to account for student demographics, including poverty, race, native language and the share of students in special education. The central idea behind the adjustments is that not all students arrive at school equally prepared, and states should not be judged as if students did.

....

With the adjustments, Texas jumps all the way to third in the 2013 state ranking, and Florida to fourth. Massachusetts, which also ranks first with unadjusted scores, remains in the top spot; although the state is relatively affluent, its students perform even better than its demographics would predict. New Jersey ranks second."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/27/upshot/surprise-florida-and-texas-excel-in-math-and-reading-scores.html?hpw&rref=upshot&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

Students in inner city Massachusetts, some from poverty, also do well. They are closing the achievement gap. I saw it, participated (briefly) and learned a lot.

How do upper middle class kids from the suburbs do? Asking for a friend.

RobB said:
How do upper middle class kids from the suburbs do? Asking for a friend.

Incredibly, but it's worth it to check test scores. It's just wonderful. With the exception of a few towns, even school facilities are terrific.

Alt headline:

"Texas schools. Not as crappy as you thought."

alp said:
Alt headline:
"Texas schools. Not as crappy as you thought."

Not sure why you thought that. From what I've seen, Texas schools have always shown up reasonably well in the rankings (though not THIS well.) It was Mississippi and some others that were bottom-dwellers.

I think we get the mistaken impression that attempts to limit the content of social studies and science textbooks in Texas is equivalent to poor pedagogy in general.

max_weisenfeld said:
I think we get the mistaken impression that attempts to limit the content of social studies and science textbooks in Texas is equivalent to poor pedagogy in general.

That's where I got it from.

Happy to stand corrected @sac!

I spend a lot of time trying to correct mistaken stereotypes about my home state! (Some are well-deserved, but certainly not all.)