A new study looking at public school systems across the country ranks Maryland eighth best in the nation.
WalletHub, a personal finance website, compared all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on 32 key measures of school quality and safety. The study examined math and reading test scores, student dropout rate, number of students taking advanced placement exams, school safety, and number of blue ribbon schools per capita to calculate an overall weighted score.
Maryland ranked 4th for school safety and 15th for quality.
The states ranked higher than Maryland are Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Virginia, New Hampshire, and Nebraska.
Some of Maryland’s other neighbors ranked in the top 30: Delaware (14th), Pennsylvania (24th), and the District of Columbia (27th).
Some researchers find that more resources dedicated to the public schools typically result in better school-system performance. The graph below ranks the school systems and the amount spent on public schools per student.
Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Education, National Conference of State Legislatures, National Center for Education Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative, Education Commission of the States, U.S. News & World Report, College Board, Ballotpedia, ACT, State Educational Technology Directors Association, Civil Rights Data Collection and Zendrive.
For more information about this study, click here.
