Not many issues can compare with the state of the public school system. A system that impacts the development of the nation’s future contributors and educators. Although some areas still suffer from a neglected school system, many have begun to see improvements and have exemplified their systems. They rank top in performance, funding, class size, safety, and teacher credentials. Not all schools within a state remain at the same level, but a majority of the state receives the same quality of public school education.

After taking into consideration the schools that are not doing so well within the state, a study was done to rank the public school systems between each state overall.

Overall Best Schools

Public school systems were ranked as a whole based upon their scores for the quality and safety of the districts. These scores were combined with their rankings of lowest dropout rates, highest SAT, and ACT scores to determine which states held the best public schools.

Massachusetts took first place, ranking No.1 state for public school and scoring highest in both quality and safety. Massachusetts was closely followed by Vermont, Virginia, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New Hampshire. These states on averaged scored higher in safety, which significantly contributed to their higher ranking. Safety holds an important role when creating a school system that allows students to thrive.

Highest Scores

Although teachers are not necessarily fans of standardized testing, the performance of students on tests such as the SAT and ACT do go into determining the performance of the school as a whole. Schools that produce higher scores are ranked higher versus schools that do not.

The lowest scores recorded came from the District of Columbia, Delaware, and Idaho. The highest average of scores was found in Illinois, Missouri, and Wisconsin. These scores are somewhat weighed as some states have different requirements and options for taking the SAT. Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, and Michigan have a 100% participation rate, meaning that those states most likely require participation in school. Illinois, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia offered the SAT statewide but did not require participation.

Dropout Rates

A heavily contributing factor in determining the quality and ranking of a school is their dropout rates. In the United States, over 1 million students drop out of high school each year, with approximately 25% of high school first-year students failing to graduate on time. Unfortunately, dropout rates increase in areas of high poverty. Poverty can also influence the quality and safety of a school due to lack of funding, forcing them lower on the list. Even states that do not necessarily have higher poverty, but rather states that have a greater separation between poverty and upper class.

Iowa, New Jersey, West Virginia, Nebraska, and Texas, have the lowest dropout rates, while Alaska, Oregon, Nevada, New Mexico, and the District of Columbia have the highest dropout rates. It is easy to see that most states that scored lower, consistently did so.