The Smartest States & Public Schools

Datablast, January 28, 2016

Massachusetts is Pretty “Smart”

According to a new report by Zippia, Massachusetts ranks as the “smartest” state in the country. Zippia uses two criterion to define smartness: percentage of adults 25 and older with an advanced degree (making the state “smarter’) and percentage of 16–19 year olds who have dropped out of college (making the state less “smart”). So, perhaps, “smartness” is not the right (and, in fact, a somewhat offensive) word to describe their results. Zippia is really looking at how successful States are at educating their youth and adult populations. Despite their clumsy terminology, Zippia draws data from the American Community Survey, perhaps the best (if far from perfect) source on comparable state educational statistics. Encouragingly for Commonwealth residents, Massachusetts ranked first with the 40% of its population (25 and over) having received a college education and only 3% of its population (16–19) dropping out of high school.

Massachusetts Public Schools Grade out on Top

Considering Zippia’s results, it’s no surprise that a recent study of public schools, Education Week’s Quality Counts, ranks Massachusetts’ schools first. Allison Pohle of Boston.com reports on both the methodology used in the report and its findings:

“Every year, the report grades each state on its overall education performance. Each state receives points in three areas: the opportunities students have for success from birth to adulthood, K-12 achievement, and school finances, or, more specifically, educational expenditure patterns and the distribution of those funds within states. The leading state on a particular indicator received 100 points, and other states earned points in proportion to the gaps between themselves and the leader. The points were then averaged. The nation averaged 74.4 out of 100 points, and got a solid C grade. Massachusetts received a score of 86.8 out of 100 and a grade of B-plus, which was the highest in the country (no state received an A).”