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<p>Report Card on American Education: Ranking State K-12 Performance, Progress and Reform © 2015 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 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 Lindsay Russell, director, Task Force on Education and Workforce Development Daniel Turner, legislative analyst, Task Force on Education and Workforce Development 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 Author v Acknowledgements vi Foreword: Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin vii CHAPTER 1 : Education Reform: A Year in Review ....................................................................................... 1 Silver State Lawmakers Strike K-12 Reform Gold 2 Vergara vs. California Decision: Potential Watershed 4 Georgia and Texas Become the 16th and 17th States to Adopt “A” through “F” School Letter Grades 4 Multiple States Introduce Education Savings Account Legislation 5 Nevada, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee Join Arizona in the ESA Family 7 States and Districts Expand Weighted Student Funding Systems 8 States Continue to Improve Digital Learning Opportunities 9 Lawmakers Introduce Multiple Scholarship Tax Credit Bills 10 School Voucher Programs Continue to Advance 11 After the 2015 Sessions a Majority of States Have a Private Choice Program 13 State Tests Align More Closely to NAEP in 20 States, Lowered in Eight 13 Charter School Parents Win Showdown with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio 14 Charter Schools Continue Nationwide Advance 16 Reform is Rolling But Has Much Farther to Go 19 CHAPTER 2: Appropriately Equipping Our Students Today for a Prosperous Tomorrow ..............................21 NAEP Reading Scores as a Predictor of College Success 25 State-Level Pipelines: Linking Eighth- and 12th-Grade NAEP Scores by Cohort 27 Sending Students to College Without Necessary Reading Skills 32 Detailed Data from Arizona: What Happens When Unprepared Students Attend College 34 Conclusion: Light at the End of the Tunnel or Oncoming Train? 35 CHAPTER 3: Student Performance and State Education Policy Grades .........................................................37 Ranking States on the Performance of General Education Low-Income Students 38 Grading Education Policies 39 Overall Education Policy Grade 39 Policy Categories 39 Academic Standards 39 Charter Schools 39 Homeschooling Regulation Burden Level 40 Private School Choice 40 Teacher Quality Policies 40 Digital Learning 40 Policy Grade Methodology 40 Additional Information 40 STATE SNAPSHOTS ...................................................................................................................................... 43 CHAPTER 4: Cost Versus Outcomes – The Importance of Educational Efficiency ..........................................95 The Example of Wyoming 97 Educational Efficiency 99 Mismanaged Resources 103 Putting Students Above Money 103 APPENDICES ................................................................................................................................................ 106 Appendix A: Change in NAEP Scores for All Students 106 Appendix B: Education Policy Grade Components 108 ABOUT THE AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL ..................................................................... 110 www.alec.org v 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 joining Goldwater, Ladner was director of state projects at the Alliance for School Choice. Ladner has written numerous studies on school choice, charter schools and special education reform and coauthored 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 Commission of Civil Rights and numerous state legislative committees. Ladner is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and received both a Masters and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Houston. Ladner is a Senior Fellow with the Foundation for Educational Choice and the Goldwater Institute. Dr. Ladner lives in Phoenix, Arizona. About the Author vi Report Card on American Education The author would like to thank the following for making this Report Card on American Education possible: First, the Allegheny Foundation and the Gleason Family Foundation for their generous support for the creation and promotion of this book. The author would like to specifically thank David J. Myslinki at Achieve and Lindsay Russell and Daniel Turner of the ALEC Task Force on Education for their tireless work and guidance in the production of this publication. We also wish to thank Lisa B. Nelson, Bartlett Cleland, Bill Meierling, Molly Drenkard, Christine Phipps, Shana Sally and the professional staff of ALEC for all aspects of this publication. Acknowledgments www.alec.org vii The United States of America is at a crit- ical moment in its history. In the 21st century our nation faces economic, po- litical, and cultural challenges across the globe. To maintain our competitive advantages in inno- vative technology, advanced agriculture, manu- facturing, and scientific research we need every student to have a world class education and leave school ready compete in the global economy. In Wisconsin we have responded to this chal- lenge through a number of education reforms. We made systematic changes to education gov- ernance and finance through Act 10, to free school districts from unfair agreements with unions over benefits and wages. In the process we saved taxpayers millions of dollars. In addition to the financial benefits of Act 10, we also created opportunities for long overdue ed- ucational reforms. School districts can now hire and fire teachers based upon merit, not seniority. Districts have instituted performance based pay programs and experimented with new schedul- ing formats. Our reforms moved education from a bureaucratic, top down approach to a local- ly based system that gives communities control over their schools. This has given school districts the independence to decide how to best organize and manage their schools based on what their students need and what gets results. We have also increased options for students who want to attend schools outside the tradi- tional public school system. Wisconsin was the first state to create a modern school choice pro- gram in Milwaukee in 1989. Since then, Wiscon- sin’s parental choice program has grown signifi- cantly from its beginnings as a limited program in Milwaukee to a statewide program that is grow- ing every year. Today, more than 27,000 students are attending approximately 150 participating schools, exercising choices these parents didn’t have before. With an eye toward providing even more options for parents and students, we have open enroll- ment policies, charter schools, and tax deduc- tions for private school tuition. We are deter- mined to ensure that a child’s education is not limited due to their zip code but to what fits best with that student’s individual educational needs and skills. The University of Wisconsin’s Flexible Options program is our innovative approach to high- er education in the 21st Century. Now students can earn degrees based upon previous work, Foreword by Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin viii Report Card on American Education education or life experiences in an individualized, competency based program. This is designed to give students an alternative to the tradition- al classroom model that is difficult and time con- suming for working or non-traditional students. It is vital that we give our citizens the ability to be lifelong learners in the constantly changing na- tional and global economy. The opponents of reform often claim that any changes will lead to dire consequences for schools and student outcomes. In Wisconsin we have shat- tered that myth. Since we implemented our reforms, school dis- tricts have saved millions of taxpayer dollars, used new innovative teaching methods and instituted merit pay to reward successful teachers. Our stu- dents reaped the benefits; high school gradua- tion rates are up, third grade reading scores are up, and our students are ranked 2nd in the nation for ACT scores. The American Legislative Exchange Council’s Re- port Card on American Education is a vital tool that helps states measure their education reform progress and learn from other states’ success- es and failures. Often, education reform efforts are met with vigorous public debate and can face powerful opponents. Too often these opponents are the very groups that benefit from the status quo. We must not be discouraged by these spe- cial interests. Instead, we must continue to de- mand all students have access to a high quality education that prepares them for higher learning, service in the military, and the workforce. In Wis- consin, we have shown that reform is possible. Sincerely, Scott Walker Governor of Wisconsin FOREWORD 1 CHAPTER Education Reform: A Year in Review 2 Report Card on American Education EDUCATION REFORM MAKES SIGNIFICANT ADVANCES IN 2014-15 Since the publication of the 19th edition of the ALEC Report Card on American Education, law- makers have been active around the country in passing K-12 reforms. Laws that give more stu- dents public and private schooling options have advanced, and lawmakers have improved pub- lic school transparency. For instance, the United States Department of Education broke out Amer- ican scores on the Programme for Internation- al Student Assessment (PISA) reading exam by ethnicity. The Department study found levels of reading achievement for American Black and His- panic students similar to countries such as Tur- key, Chile and Mexico.1 These nations spend a fraction of the American spending per pupil and have far greater absolute poverty problems. De- spite continuing policy progress, many American children still significantly underperform in com- parison to their global peers. When addressing reform strategies to meet the individual state needs, policymakers should in- vestigate the following best practices already ex- ecuted in a number of states and also view the ex- tensive information produced by legislators from every state and housed at the American Legisla- tive Exchange Council (ALEC). SILVER STATE LAWMAKERS STRIKE K-12 REFORM GOLD Nevada has more than its share of education chal- lenges. Long among the fastest growing states on a percentage basis, overcrowding remains an en- demic problem in its public schools. A 2014 New York Times piece on Clark County (Las Vegas area) noted that the district had the equivalent of 40 elementary schools of students housed in por- table buildings. “I could build 23 elementary schools today, and they would open up full and overcrowded,” said Clark County Superintendent of Schools Pat Skorkowsky at a neighboring Hen- derson County Chamber of Commerce breakfast, according to the paper.2 Since schools are burst- ing at the seams due to enrollment growth and are failing to reach average levels of academ- ic achievement, Nevada lawmakers face both gi- gantic quantity and substantial quality problems. In 2015, they took dramatic action to address both problems simultaneously when Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval signed multiple K-12 re- form bills into law. Collectively, these new laws constitute a comprehensive approach, including broad parental choice and district reform efforts. Most notably, Nevada created the nation’s stron- gest parental choice program to date in terms of both student eligibility and in the allowed uses of funds. In addition, lawmakers took action to end social promotion and increase charter school offerings. Signed into law June 2, 2015, Senate Bill 302, cre- ated Nevada’s Education Savings Account (ESA) program in which participating parents manage a state-funded account for each student with multiple but restricted uses under a system of state oversight. Sponsored by state Senator Scott Hammond and signed by Sandoval, SB 302 makes all Nevada students with previous public school attendance eligible for an ESA. The Nevada Office of the State Treasurer will ad- minister the program. Students with disabilities and those from families with incomes at or below Education Reform: A Year in Review www.alec.org 3 EDUCATION REFORM: A YEAR IN REVIEW 185 percent of the federal poverty level will re- ceive an amount equal to 100 percent of the statewide average basic support per pupil—cur- rently around $5,700. Other students will receive a level of funding equal to 90 percent of this fig- ure—currently around $5,100. Parents opting into the program can use funds for: • Tuition and fees at an approved private school • Textbooks required for a student at an approved private school • Tutoring or other services provided by a tutor or tutoring facility that is a participating entity • Tuition and fees for a distance-learning program • Fees for any national norm-referenced achievement examination, advanced placement or similar examination, or standardized examination required for admission to college or university • Fees for any special instruction or special services if the child is a pupil with a disability • Fees and tuition for a college or university in Nevada if that student utilizes those expenses for dual credit • Textbooks for a college or university in Nevada, also if that student utilizes those expenses for dual credit • Transportation to school up to $750.00 • Purchases of curriculum or any supplemental materials • Management fees The state treasurer will oversee the program and is able to deduct up to 3 percent from the ap- propriated ESA funds to cover the costs of ad- ministration. The treasurer has the authority to remove either a vendor or a student from the program for failure to comply with the legal re- quirements of the program and refer cases to the state attorney general for criminal prosecution. Participating students must complete a nation- ally norm-referenced test annually in mathemat- ics and English; and report the results to the Ne- vada Department of Education. The department will aggregate the data according to grade level, gender, race and family income level. After three years, it will report ESA student graduation rates.3 Nevada’s program sets unprecedented education policy. No existing private choice program can match the state’s combination of broad student eligibility and multiple educational uses. As with most all-choice programs, the new Nevada ESA program remains a work in progress. Future areas of improvement could be the inclusion of funding weights for children with disabilities and English language learners to mirror the public school for- mula. Currently, the legislation allows the rolling over of unused funds from year to year and the earning of college credit through dual enrollment and advanced placement. The state’s bold new choice law, however, was not the only big advancement, as lawmakers passed other substantial reforms. Nevada’s Sen- ate Bill 391 -Read by Three Act will create pro- grams to aggressively address early childhood il- literacy through early identification and parental notification of reading deficiencies, intensive in- terventions for students and retention at the end of third grade, as a last resort. Nevada’s SB 491 appropriated $10 million for the creation and operation of high-quality char- ter schools to serve students who live in pover- ty. Assembly Bill 448 created an Achievement School District to identify low-performing dis- trict schools and convert them into public char- ter schools. Assembly Bill 483 requires school districts to set aside funding for additional performance pay for highly effective teachers and administrators. The law prioritizes student achievement and is not subject to change through collective bargaining. Senate Bill 92 took the further step of requiring all layoff decisions for teachers and administra- tors be guided by the statewide evaluation sys- tem, ending the pernicious practice of “last in, first out,” whereby teachers get laid off accord- ing to seniority rather effectiveness.4 In addition to these crucial public school reforms, Nevada lawmakers created two private choice programs. Assembly Bill 165 created a corporate 4 Report Card on American Education CHAPTER ONE scholarship tax credit program for students from low and middle-income households. The pro- gram has an initial $5 million cap on credits with a provision to increase the cap annually. The Nevada Constitution guarantees public edu- cation, so it will always be available. Due to the constant pressure of current and projected en- rollment growth, the Nevada public school sys- tem needs all the help it can get. These legislative efforts ensure Nevada schools are moving in the right direction. The consistent experience of pre- vious choice programs demonstrates that, there will not be a mad exodus out of the Nevada pub- lic school system, even with the ESA program’s broad eligibility. Instead, the program will reduce the strain on the public school system due to en- rollment growth and create a crucial exit option that will provide positive motivation for the pub- lic schools to improve. Nevada lawmakers have made history by initiating an audacious experi- ment in liberty that gives parents the ability to customize the education of their children. Big problems require bold leadership. VERGARA VS. CALIFORNIA DECISION: POTENTIAL WATERSHED In 2012, nine California students filed suit against the State of California claiming that state poli- cies—such as granting tenure after 18 months on the job, extremely complex appeals process- es that make it nearly impossible to terminate an ineffective teacher and “last in, first out” —vio- lated their opportunity to obtain a quality educa- tion. On June 11, 2014, the Superior Court of the State of California County of Los Angeles ruled in favor of the students, saying: Plaintiffs claim that the Challenged Statutes result in grossly ineffective teachers obtain- ing and retaining permanent employment, and that these teachers are disproportion- ately situated in schools serving predomi- nantly low-income and minority students. Plaintiffs’ equal protection claims assert that the Challenged Statutes violate their funda- mental rights to equality of education by ad- versely affecting the quality of the education they are afforded by the state. This court is asked to directly assess how the Challenged Statutes affect the educational experience. It must decide whether the Chal- lenged Statutes cause the potential and/or unreasonable exposure of grossly ineffective teachers to all California students in general and to minority and/or low-income students in particular, in violation of the equal protec- tion clause of the California Constitution.5 This Court finds that the Plaintiffs have met their burden of proof on all issues presented. This landmark decision amounted to a political earthquake. Despite having the full resources of the State of California and the California Teach- ers Association (CTA), the defendants proved in- capable of defending the indefensible. The rul- ing notes: “Evidence has been elicited in this trail of the specific effect of the grossly ineffective teachers on students. The evidence is compel- ling. Indeed, it shocks the conscience.” The ruling resulted in an inevitable appeal that will take years to resolve in the California court system. In the meantime, other groups have filed similar lawsuits in other states. The decision re- veals just how deeply discredited practices like unconditional tenure and “last in, first out” have become. Both sides put their best case forward on these issues, and the court used both sides’ testimonies to reach their ruling. GEORGIA AND TEXAS BECOME THE 16TH AND 17TH STATES TO ADOPT “A” THROUGH “F” SCHOOL LETTER GRADES Georgia lawmakers made Georgia the latest state to pass transparent A through F letter grades to describe public school academic performance. The use of letter grades in state accountability systems began in Florida in 1999, followed by Ari- zona, Indiana, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Arkansas, Maine, West Virgin- ia—and most recently the Peach State—between 1999 and 2015. The Texas legislature also adopted campus-lev- el A through F school grades in 2015, although it www.alec.org 5 EDUCATION REFORM: A YEAR IN REVIEW uses a formula that includes a number of non-ac- ademic grading factors. It also allows districts to choose some of their own grading criteria. This means that the grading system will not be com- parable across districts. The previous system of campus labels, however, amounted to a “pass/ fail” with 91 percent of schools receiving a “met standard” label in 2013 according to state crite- ria. Simultaneously only 28 percent to 41 percent of Texas students scored “proficient or better” on the 2013 fourth and eighth-grade Nation- al Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) math and reading exams. Texas still has room for improvement in the area of test-based school accountability. School grading policies suffered setbacks in plac- es such as New York City, where Mayor Bill de Bla- sio ended the use of letter grades. Lawmakers in Virginia also chose to cancel the adoption of the policy in the face of opposition from Governor Terry McAuliffe. The Virginia law passed in 2013, but state officials never actually implement- ed the law. School grading proponents chose to support the Virginia repeal rather than see the grades enacted without fidelity to the principles of the policy. MULTIPLE STATES INTRODUCE EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNT LEGISLATION Arizona became the first state to pass a new variety of parental choice program in 2011 with the passage of the Empowerment Schol- arship Account Program, which introduced ed- ucation savings accounts. This model has sev- eral advantages over the traditional school voucher mechanism. First, it has proved more robust to court challenge in Arizona than pre- vious voucher programs. It survived legal chal- lenge, whereas two previous voucher programs were ruled unconstitutional under Arizona’s Blaine Amendment. It is possible that a pro- gram following this model might have a similar FIGURE 1 | STATES WITH “A” THROUGHT “F” SCHOOL LETTER GRADE LAWS, 2015 STATES WITH “A” THROUGH “F” SCHOOL LETTER GRADE LAWS STATES WITHOUT “A” THROUGH “F” SCHOOL LETTER GRADE LAWS 6 Report Card on American Education CHAPTER ONE advantage under other state constitutions. The ESA model also provides more flexibili- ty to parents than a voucher does. Parents use vouchers to choose among schools, and vouch- ers broaden their possible choices to include par- ticipating private schools. ESA programs give par- ents choices not just among schools, but also among education methods and programs. Par- ents can choose to enroll students in a school full- time, but they also have other options, including hiring private tutors and therapists, online edu- cation programs and even purchasing individual classes at schools or community colleges. The ESA model also allows parents to save mon- ey for future higher education expenses. This cre- ates an incentive for parents to carefully choose providers not only according to perceived quality but also cost. Providers thereby are motivated to provide high-quality services at affordable pric- es—the exact opposite of the trend seen in the district system in which spending surges and out- comes largely stagnate. Arizona lawmakers originally crafted their schol- arship legislation to serve only students with dis- abilities. Subsequently, however, lawmakers have made additional students eligible—children in public schools in districts with D or F grades, stu- dents who have been through the foster care sys- tem and the dependents or survivors of parents in the military. In 2014, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed legislation making the siblings of already eligible students eligible for the Empow- erment Scholarship Accounts. This change made it possible, for instance, for a family with two chil- dren—one of whom was eligible for the program with an Individual Education Plan—to educate both children in the same fashion or send both to the same school. In 2015, Arizona State Senator Carlyle Begay sponsored legislation making children residing FIGURE 2 | STATES INTRODUCING EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNT LEGISLATION IN 2015 STATES THAT INTRODUCED EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNT LEGISLATION STATES THAT DID NOT INTRODUCE EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNT LEGISLATION www.alec.org 7 EDUCATION REFORM: A YEAR IN REVIEW on Arizona American Indian reservations eligible for the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Pro- gram. Arizona has 55,000 American Indian chil- dren, and NAEP shows that their levels of academ- ic achievement rank consistently below those of their peers in other states and among the lowest for any student subgroup in the nation. Following the adoption of the Arizona program in 2011, ALEC adopted model ESA policy that was lat- er updated to reflect significant changes in 2015. NEVADA, FLORIDA, MISSISSIPPI AND TENNESSEE JOIN ARIZONA IN THE ESA FAMILY Lawmakers in a number of other states began to introduce account-based choice programs in 2012. In 2014, Florida lawmakers succeeded in passing the Personal Learning Savings Accounts (PLSA) program—the second of its kind in the nation. The PLSA program initially focused on children with relatively severe disabilities and was launched in the fall of 2014. The innovative Florida program is administered by nonprofit groups with state oversight. (The Arizona Department of Education and Office of the Treasury administer the original program). Florida lawmakers initially appropriated $18 million in 2014 for the PLSA program but in- creased the appropriation to $53 million in 2015. In Mississippi, the fight for ESAs for special-needs children began in 2014, but problems have exist- ed for decades. Jackson Clarion Ledger noted Feb. 2, 2014 that the graduation rate for special needs students is the worst in the nation. Despite billions in federal funding since the late 1990s, teachers are still ill-trained, and graduation rates for stu- dents with special needs have raised a mere 6 per- cent since then. In 1997, the same paper noted a graduation rate of just 17 percent for special needs students.6 Mississippi lawmakers and parents fought hard FIGURE 3 | STATES WITH EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNTS PROGRAMS, 2015 STATES WITH EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNTS PROGRAMS STATES WITHOUT EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNTS PROGRAMS 8 Report Card on American Education CHAPTER ONE for an account-based choice program, very near- ly passing it in 2014 and finally achieving success the following year. Governor Phil Bryant signed the measure into law in 2015, making Mississippi the third state to enact an account-based choice program. Choice advocates in Tennessee did not have to wait long for the fourth program, as lawmakers passed, and Governor William Haslam signed, ESA legisla- tion for students with special needs just weeks af- ter Mississippi. Montana legislators passed an ESA bill as well, but the measure was vetoed by Gover- nor Stephen Bullock. STATES AND DISTRICTS EXPAND WEIGHTED STUDENT FUNDING SYSTEMS School funding methods can give schools a strong incentive to respond positively to competition. In- diana, for example, until recently had a district funding formula that included “ghost students.” Through this method, the state continued to al- locate funds to districts for students the schools were no longer educating.7 Lawmakers wisely re- placed this formula with current-year funding when they introduced school vouchers. Without making this change, the state would have double- funded these students while reducing the incen- tive of districts to respond to competition. Weighted Student Funding (WSF) represents an important, if commonly misunderstood, reform. Most states fund districts according to a formu- la, but the details are important. Many states fund districts rather than schools, and they base it on the previous year’s student count rather than the current count. Arizona has run parallel traditional and WSF sys- tems for decades. For 20 years, Arizona has fund- ed charter schools at the campus level using cur- rent-year counts. All the while, the state has funded its school districts based on the previous year’s count—and has funded districts rather than schools. WSF has not proved a magic bullet to guarantee school quality—many Arizona charter schools have closed, and more will likely close at the expiration of their original charter. Comparisons between dis- trict and charter schools have difficulty account- ing for the many possible external causes for ap- parent differences in outcomes. For example, Harvard University scholar Paul Peterson noted that students typically take a temporary academ- ic hit when transferring between schools, and new schools typically have a “shakedown” period dur- ing which they have yet to hit peak performance. Charter sectors with large numbers of new schools full of newly transferred students can negatively bias a snapshot comparison of charter schools. Arizona’s school grading system, however, which equally weighs overall proficiency and academ- ic growth over time, shows a clear advantage for charter schools. In 2013-2014, 40 percent of Arizo- na charter schools earned an A grade compared to only 28 percent of district schools that earned an A. Arizona charters were also relatively underrep- resented at the low end, with 7 percent receiving D grades compared to 9 percent of district schools earning a D. Hawaii implemented WSF during the 2006-2007 school year. Between 2007 and 2013, Hawaii dou- bled or tripled the national average for progress on the four main NAEP examinations (fourth- and eighth-grade reading and mathematics). While no one can prove that WSF was the sole or even pri- mary cause of this high level of improvement, a general trend toward decentralization seems to have served the state well. In an American Institute for Research evalua- tion of Hawaii’s WSF program, a survey of school principals revealed a consensus that WSF had in- creased equity, transparency and campus auton- omy. While many principals expressed the desire for greater resources to be at their disposal, some principals noted that greater control over budgets would prove far more meaningful if they also had control over staffing.8 The move to directly fund schools rather than dis- tricts gives school principals more control over their budgets, better enabling them to compete. Imagine being tasked with running a school with little control over either the budget or staff. If we want to hold school leaders accountable for www.alec.org 9 EDUCATION REFORM: A YEAR IN REVIEW results, it makes sense to give them the authority they need to succeed. STATES CONTINUE TO IMPROVE DIGITAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES Digital learning has opened opportunities for stu- dents to take courses that would otherwise be un- available. Online learning has the potential to con- nect more students to high-quality teachers and increase the number of students that highly effec- tive instructors can serve. Students can access ev- erything from technical and career education to advanced science and mathematics instruction to foreign language opportunities through digital learning. Digital Learning Now, an initiative of the Founda- tion for Excellence in Education, produces an an- nual Digital Learning Report Card to measure state laws against the 10 Elements of High-Quality Digital Learning. By 2014, states had implemented and refined the 422 laws touching on digital learn- ing—some far more effectively than others. Over- all, the report card noted progress in 2014, with half of the states improving their grades overall, 14 states moving up one letter grade and nine states earning their way out of the F category since the 2013 report. State policymakers play a critical role in acceler- ating the adoption of new models of learning en- abled by technology. State policy can either re- move barriers to innovative approaches or it can stifle them with restrictions and red tape to pro- tect the status quo. Despite the progress of recent years, only two states—Florida and Utah—earned an A in the 2014 Digital Learning Report Card.9 Lawmakers have made strides, but many miles remain ahead in the journey. FIGURE 4 | DIGITAL LEARNING NOW GRADES BY STATE, 2014 Grading Key A B C D F 10 Report Card on American Education CHAPTER ONE LAWMAKERS INTRODUCE MULTIPLE SCHOLARSHIP TAX CREDIT BILLS Arizona lawmakers created the first scholarship tax credit program in 1997 when they approved a dollar-for-dollar credit against the state individ- ual income tax for donations to nonprofit groups that provide scholarships for children to attend private schools. Pennsylvania and Florida fol- lowed suit in 2001 with corporate scholarship credits. The 2014 legislative sessions were relatively un- eventful in terms of school choice, although Kan- sas lawmakers created the Tax Credit for Low In- come Students Scholarship Program. The tax credit allows corporations to claim a 70 percent tax credit for contributions to approved nonprof- its that grant private school scholarships. The to- tal amount of tax credits awarded statewide is limited to $10 million. FIGURE 5 | STATES INTRODUCING SCHOLARSHIP TAX CREDIT LEGISLATION, 2015 Lawmakers were anything but inactive in 2015, however, with 23 states introducing scholarship tax credit legislation. In addition to the aforemen- tioned Nevada scholarship tax credit program, Arizona lawmakers included subchapter S corpo- rations in the state’s preexisting corporate schol- arship credit, which expanded the universe of po- tential donors. Montana lawmakers also created a modest scholarship tax credit program in 2015. Although it remains unresolved at the time of this writing, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo took the lead in a bipartisan push for tax cred- its in 2015. Win or lose, history was made with a prominent Democrat governor aggressively ad- vocating for a private choice program. The New York Times reported the following from a public appearance Cuomo made to promote tax credit legislation: STATES THAT INTRODUCED SCHOLARSHIP TAX CREDIT LEGISLATION STATES THAT DID NOT INTRODUCE SCHOLARSHIP TAX CREDIT LEGISLATION www.alec.org 11 EDUCATION REFORM: A YEAR IN REVIEW “There are some areas, frankly, where the public schools are not places where you would want to send your children,” he said at the Shrine Church of St. Jude in Canarsie, Brooklyn. He added that “sending your child to one of these failing public schools is in many ways condemning your child to get a second-class education.”10 “We want you to have the ability to choose where to send your child,” Mr. Cuomo told churchgoers, asking them to contact their legislators. Mr. Cuomo said his father, former Governor Mario M. Cuomo, chose to send him to pa- rochial school, believing that “I needed the nuns to keep me on the straight and narrow.” On the other hand, Mr. Cuomo said he sent his three daughters to public school, citing FIGURE 6 | STATES WITH TAX CREDIT PROGRAMS, 2015 the quality of the public schools in Westches- ter County. (He did not mention that after at- tending public school, two of his daughters went on to graduate from Deerfield Acade- my, a boarding school in Massachusetts.) “There’s no right or wrong,” he said. “But it should be your choice.” SCHOOL VOUCHER PROGRAMS CONTINUE TO ADVANCE Lawmakers continued to debate school voucher legislation in 2015, with Arkansas legislators pass- ing a new school voucher program for children with disabilities. Lawmakers in Wisconsin and Ohio significantly expanded pre-existing voucher programs. Most notably, lawmakers removed the cap from Wisconsin’s statewide voucher program and created a new program for special needs children. STATES WITH TAX CREDIT PROGRAMS STATES WITHOUT TAX CREDIT PROGRAMS 12 Report Card on American Education CHAPTER ONE FIGURE 7 | STATES INTRODUCING SCHOOL VOUCHER LEGISLATION IN 2015 FIGURE 8 | STATES WITH ONE OR MORE SCHOOL VOUCHER PROGRAMS, 2015 STATES THAT INTRODUCED SCHOOL VOUCHER LEGISLATION STATES THAT DID NOT INTRODUCE SCHOOL VOUCHER LEGISLATION STATES WITH ONE OR MORE SCHOOL VOUCHER PROGRAMS STATES WITHOUT SCHOOL VOUCHER PROGRAMS www.alec.org 13 EDUCATION REFORM: A YEAR IN REVIEW With the addition of Arkansas, Figure 8 presents states having one or more school voucher pro- gram. Florida, Louisiana and Ohio have multiple school voucher programs. AFTER THE 2015 SESSIONS A MAJORITY OF STATES HAVE A PRIVATE CHOICE PROGRAM First, the good news: a majority of states (26) have one or more private choice programs. In 2015, a person could drive from Key West, Fla., to the California border near Lake Tahoe and nev- er once enter a state without a private choice program, as displayed in Figure 9. Many of these states contain multiple programs, including Ala- bama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Okla- homa, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. On the other hand, more than 28 percent of American school children live in California, Texas FIGURE 9 | STATES WITH ONE OR MORE PRIVATE CHOICE PROGRAMS 2015 or New York, states in which no children have ac- cess to a private choice program. To put this in perspective, California’s 6.2 million school chil- dren equal the combined student enrollments of the 22 smallest states combined. The more than five million students in Texas equal the combined enrollments of the smallest 20 states. STATE TESTS ALIGN MORE CLOSELY TO NAEP IN 20 STATES, LOWERED IN EIGHT Fifty years have passed since Congress enacted the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1965. Congress renamed and revised the statute in 2002, now known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). As a condition of receiving federal education dollars, NCLB requires states to test students in grades three through eight and again in high school on math and reading achievement. Each state test sets a cut score for what constitutes “proficient” achievement on these math and reading tests. At STATES WITH ONE OR MORE PRIVATE CHOICE PROGRAMS STATES WITHOUT PRIVATE CHOICE PROGRAMS 14 Report Card on American Education CHAPTER ONE the time of this writing, Congress is considering legislation to reauthorize this law, which has stood unchanged since 2002 despite having been sched- uled for renewal in 2007. NCLB requires state participation in fourth-grade and eighth-grade math and reading exams as part of NAEP. NAEP tests have performance level cut scores roughly equivalent to those set by interna- tional organizations that estimate student profi- ciency worldwide.11 In other words, if students are proficient according to NAEP, they likely have a lev- el of content mastery that is globally competitive. Paul Peterson and Matthew Ackerman compared the proficiency standards of state tests to those of NAEP, thus serving as a measure of “truth in adver- tising” for state accountability exams. Their Summer 2015 contained good news overall: In this paper we extend the five prior analy- ses by identifying the changes in state profi- ciency standards between 2011 and 2013, the last year for which the relevant informa- tion is available. We show that many states have raised their proficiency bars since 2011. Indeed, the 2013 data reveal that for the first time, substantially more states have raised their proficiency standards than have let those standards slip to lower levels. Overall, 20 states strengthened their standards, while just 8 loosened them.12 Peterson and Ackerman found that Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michi- gan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Car- olina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming improved their alignment with NAEP from 2011 to 2013. Ar- kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Oklahoma lowered the rigor of their state tests. Figure 10 presents state grades by year, with A grades denoting close alignment with NAEP profi- ciency standards, F grades signifying a large gap— much higher student performance on state tests than NAEP. The rigor of state tests fluctuates over time in a dynamic fashion. The Peterson and Ackerman study takes a snapshot of the 2011 to 2013 pe- riod, but things will continue to change state by state each year. In the end, state policymakers (usually a state board of education) will make de- cisions regarding state standards and proficiency cut scores. Policymakers in states with low grades should take action to provide truth in advertising for their students, parents and taxpayers. Many disagreements surround the process of adopting and maintaining state academic stan- dards and tests. No one, however, should support using taxpayer dollars to create what amounts to a state-sponsored system of smoke and mir- rors. The ultimate victims of a state testing sys- tem that labels illiterate and innumerate children “proficient” are the children themselves. CHARTER SCHOOL PARENTS WIN SHOWDOWN WITH NEW YORK MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg sup- ported a policy of co-location for charter schools. Given the considerable expense of Gotham real estate and the availability of empty space in city- owned school buildings, this represented a vital enabling reform in the creation of charter schools. Current New York City Mayor de Blasio, however, made an effort to evict three highly effective char- ter schools from their city-provided facilities, cre- ating a showdown between charter supporters and the new mayor. Governor Cuomo and the New York legislature resolved this dispute in favor of the charter par- ents in a decisive fashion. With the active and vo- cal support of the governor, a bipartisan majori- ty of the New York legislature passed a state law governing co-location policy. Chalkbeat New York, a web site covering New York education, provid- ed the following description of the impact of the legislation: The new law requires the city to provide new charter schools with free space inside the city’s www.alec.org 15 EDUCATION REFORM: A YEAR IN REVIEW Strength of State Proficiency Standards 2013 Overall Averages by Year Change in Difference Between State and NAEP Rank State 4th Grade 8th Grade 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2011– 2013** 2005– 2013** Math Reading Math Reading 1 New York A A A A B- C C+ D+ B- A 31.5 35.3 2 Wisconsin A A A A D+ C- C- D+ D+ A 28.8 38.7 3 Utah A A A A D+ D+ C- D+ A 31.6 40.2 4 North Carolina A A A A D- F D C- C- A 40.6 50.2 5 Pennsylvania A A A A C+ C C C C A 9.7 24.6 6 Massachusetts A A A B- A A A A A A 6.9 -9.6 7 Kentucky A A B+ A B B- C C C A 13.7 15.5 8 Missouri B+ A B+ A A A A A B+ A -7.0 -12.9 9 Tennessee A A C+ A F F F F A A 40.9 47.5 10 Florida B- B+ B- B+ B- C+ C+ C C B 17.7 9.1 11 Washington B+ C+ B+ B B- C B- B- B B 11.8 11.2 12 Colorado B- B B+ B- D+ D B- B- B B 30.1 28.0 13 Michigan A C A C+ C C- D D D- B 26.1 18.2 14 Illinois B- B C+ B C+ C D D D B- -4.9 10.5 15 Minnesota B+ C+ B C+ B- B- B B- -34.7 0.9* 16 New Mexico B+ B+ D+ B+ B- B- C+ B B- 2.0 -0.8 17 New Jersey C A B- C C C C C+ C+ B- 20.8 9.5 18 California D+ C A B- A B B+ C+ C+ C+ 3.0 -5.1 19 Maine B C+ C+ C A A B- C+ C+ C+ -5.0 -24.3 20 Virginia C+ B C+ C C- D+ D+ D D C+ 4.1 15.7 21 New Hampshire B C+ C+ C B- B- B C+ -35.6 -4.6* 22 Nevada D+ C- B+ B+ C+ C C C+ C+ -8.2 -0.2 23 Rhode Island B- B- C+ C B+ B B- C+ C+ C+ 11.5 -6.8 24 Oregon C+ C C C+ C C- C- C- C -7.6 -0.7 25 Maryland C C C+ C B C C- C- C- C 14.8 3.5 26 Hawaii B B- D+ C- A A A C+ C C 0.3 -19.6 27 Iowa C C D+ B- D+ C- D+ D+ C 13.9 7.9 28 North Dakota C C+ C C C+ C C C- C C 12.0 1.7 29 Montana B- D+ C+ C- C C+ C C C C 9.4 -6.2 30 District of Columbia C B- D- C C C C C -3.3 -5.9 31 Nebraska C C C C- D- F F C C 23.3 15.0 32 Wyoming C C C C A A C C C- C -11.5 -30.5 33 Delaware C C D+ C C C C- D+ C+ C -11.8 -0.6 34 Arizona C+ D+ C C- B+ D+ C- D+ C C 18.6 6.3 35 South Dakota C C- C- C C D+ D+ C C- C 13.5 5.9 36 Indiana C C- D C C C- C C C- C- 11.2 -1.1 37 Connecticut C- C+ D- C C C C C C- C- 8.9 -3.9 38 Texas C+ C- D+ D- F D+ D- F D- C- 17.4 3.9 39 Ohio C D C- D+ B- C C- C C- C- 6.5 -7.0 40 Mississippi D C F C D D- D- C C C- 18.2 10.2 41 Kansas C D+ C- D C C- C- D D D+ -6.5 -1.7 42 Alaska C- D+ C- D C- D+ D D+ D+ D+ 13.9 0.8 43 South Carolina D D D+ C A A A C- D+ D+ -20.8 -39.8 44 Arkansas D D D+ D+ B B C+ C- D+ D -8.2 -25.4 45 Oklahoma D+ C- D- D- D- D- F C C- D 19.4 3.8 46 Louisiana D D- D D+ C C C- D+ D+ D 5.2 -10.8 47 Idaho D D- D D- C- D D+ D D- D 15.1 -1.3 48 Georgia D F F F D- D- F F F F 15.7 -4.7 49 Alabama F F F F D- D- F F F 13.7 -7.0 Vermont B B B- B- West Virginia F D- C B FIGURE 10 | THE STRENGTH OF STATE PROFICIENCY STANDARDS * 2005 data are missing; change is calculated from 2007 ** A positive number indicates narrowing the difference between the NAEP and state exams NOTE: Grades are blue in states with rising standards Source: Paul Peterson’s and Matthew Ackerman’s calculations base on state tests and NAEP 16 Report Card on American Education CHAPTER ONE own buildings or public funding to cover rent in a private facility. The legislation is a rebuke from state lawmakers of de Blasio’s criticism of charter schools during the mayoral cam- paign and his early months in office. One challenge the law poses for de Blasio is that it makes financial sense to keep charter schools in city buildings. If the city doesn’t pro- vide space, the law provides for charters to re- ceive an extra funding allowance for each stu- dent, which in 2015 would be $2,775, from the city. Thirteen charter schools have already been approved to open that year, serving 2,000 stu- dents at first and 5,800 at full capacity. Private space for those schools would cost as much as $5 million in the 2015-16 school year and $16 million once they are all at capacity, based on enrollment estimates. In addition, the city is planning to spend $5.4 million next year for three displaced Success Academy schools, which will have fewer than 500 students next year, to operate in Catholic school buildings.13 The bipartisan victory of the New York charter school community, with the benefit of hindsight, may be viewed as a watershed moment for the en- tire parental choice movement. New York parents want more choice in education, and state lawmak- ers delivered a decisive victory to them. CHARTER SCHOOLS CONTINUE NATIONWIDE ADVANCE The number of states without a charter school law on the books continues to shrink to a handful of rural states. In 2013, Mississippi passed new char- ter school legislation. In 2015, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley made Alabama the latest state to join the charter school family. FIGURE 11 | STATES WITH A CHARTER SCHOOL LAW, 2015 STATES WITH A CHARTER SCHOOL LAW STATES WITHOUT A CHARTER SCHOOL LAW www.alec.org 17 EDUCATION REFORM: A YEAR IN REVIEW Minnesota lawmakers passed the nation’s first charter school law in 1991, and at the time of this writing, almost three million students attend- ed public charter schools in 42 states around the country. Only a handful of states, however, have FIGURE 12a | ESTIMATED NUMBER OF PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS AND STUDENTS, 2014-15 State New Charters, Fall 2014 Closed Charters, Spring 2014 Net Gain Charters, 2014-15 Total Charter Schools, 2014-15 Charter School Growth Estimated Enrollment, 2014-15 Charter Enrollment Growth AK 0 0 0 27 0% 6,300 2% AR 6 0 6 45 15% 23,100 41% AZ 31 13 18 623 3% 225,000 20% CA 88 36 52 1,184 5% 547,800 7% CO 16 2 14 214 7% 98,000 5% CT 4 0 4 22 22% 8,200 17% DC 5 (+2 campuses) 4 (+2 campuses) 0 61 (on 112 Campuses) 0% 35,300 16% DE 3 0 3 24 14% 12,500 13% FL 56 28 28 653 4% 275,000 20% GA 11 4 7 103 7% 80,600 16% HI 1 0 1 34 3% 10,400 6% IA 0 0 0 3 0% 300 -4% ID 3 2 1 48 2% 19,600 -4% IL 3 (+2 campuses) 2 2 66 (on 148 campuses) 3% 63,000 6% IN 6 2 4 79 5% 44,300 25% KS 0 0 0 11 0% 2,700 6% LA 18 6 12 129 10% 74,000 25% MA 3 6 -3 78 -4% 35,700 3% MD 3 2 1 53v 2% 18,600 5% ME 1 0 1 6 20% 900 135% passed what studies rank as strong charter laws. One sign of weak laws is an inability of charter school operators to satisfy demand for charter school seats. Nationwide, more than a million stu- dents sit on charter school waiting lists.14 The Center for Education Reform annually grades state charter school laws on an A through F scale. In 2015 they gave the charter school laws of four states—Arizona, Indiana, Michigan and Minneso- ta, plus the District of Columbia—an A grade. An additional eight states—California, Colorado, Flor- ida, Idaho, Missouri, Nevada, South Carolina and Utah—received B Grades. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools list- ed 10 states that enacted legislation to strengthen their authorizing environments in 2014, drawing attention especially to Alaska, New York, South Carolina and Tennessee While a large majority of states now have char- ter school laws, a majority of these laws still con- tain significant weaknesses and departures from best practices—such as caps on the number of schools, single authorizers and district-only autho- rizing. Figure 13 shows that only distinct minori- ties of states have relatively strong charter laws, 18 Report Card on American Education CHAPTER TWO State New Charters, Fall 2014 Closed Charters, Spring 2014 Net Gain Charters, 2014-15 Total Charter Schools, 2014-15 Charter School Growth Estimated Enrollment, 2014-15 Charter Enrollment Growth MI 17 7 10 307 3% 159,000 16% MN 10 1 9 158 6% 47,900 11% MO 2 1 1 51 2% 20,000 8% NC 25 1 24 151 19% 70,800 22% NH 4 0 4 23 21% 3,000 43% NJ 5 5 0 87 0% 41,000 27% NM 4 2 2 97 2% 24,400 14% NV 4 0 4 38 12% 28,200 15% NY 17 2 15 248 6% 106,000 17% OH 11 27 -16 384 -4% 146,000 18% OK 3 1 2 27 8% 18,700 40% OR 2 1 1 125 1% 32,000 12% PA 4 4 0 176 0% 128,000 -1% RI 3 0 3 21 17% 7,100 19% SC 10 3 7 66 12% 27,400 18% TN 14 5 9 80 13% 20,900 72% TX 2 (+53 campuses) 7 (+18 campuses 35 275 (on 721 campuses) 15% 280,000 18% UT 15 0 15 110 16% 65,400 19% VA 1 0 1 7 17% 46,800 7% WA 1 0 1 1 45 WI 22 22 0 245 0% 46,800 7% WY 0 0 0 4 0% 600 27% Total 491 216 278 6,724 4% 2,890,000 14% FIGURE 12b | ESTIMATED NUMBER OF PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS AND STUDENTS, 2014-15 Public charter school data can be found on the Public Charter School Dashboard: http://dashboard.publiccharters.org/dashboard/home www.alec.org 19 EDUCATION REFORM: A YEAR IN REVIEW FIGURE 13 | STATES WITH A- OR B- GRADED CHARTER SCHOOL LAWS and hundreds of thousands of children sit on the waiting lists of charter schools in the states with “strong” laws. REFORM IS ROLLING BUT HAS MUCH FARTHER TO GO While reform momentum continues, the accom- plishments to date only represent critical steps in a long journey. Average children continue to face waiting lists if they want to attend high-quality charter schools and have limited access to private choice programs. They also attend schools gov- erned by human resource policies of the sort de- cried in the Vergara. STATES WITH A- OR B- GRADED CHARTER SCHOOL LAWS STATES WITHOUT A- OR B- GRADED CHARTER SCHOOL LAWS Nevertheless, decades of K-12 practice have begun a fundamental shift. Lawmakers are now think- ing far more deeply about what it will take to im- prove academic outcomes after decades of re- form strategies that amounted to sending school districts more money and hoping for the best. Pa- rental choice has proved both successful and pop- ular with parents. Lawmakers have begun serious efforts to address injurious human resource issues that threaten students. The political forces invest- ed in maintaining the status quo remain incredibly powerful, but over the past decade it has become increasingly common for dedicated lawmakers to prevail. Reformers are not only seeing more victo- ries, but also increasingly able to obtain strong bi- partisan for their efforts. 20 Report Card on American Education CHAPTER ONE ENDNOTES 1. Fleischman, H.L. et al. 2010. “Highlights From PISA 2009: Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students in Reading, Math- ematics, and Science Literacy in an International Context.” National Center for Education Statistics. Available at http:// nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011004.pdf. 2. Nagourney, Adam. 2014. “Las Vegas Schools Groan From Growing Pains.” The New York Times Oct. 6, 2014.” Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/us/las-vegas-schools-groan-from-growing-pains.html. 3. Chartier, Michael. 2015. “Everything You Need to Know About Nevada’s Universal ESA Bill.” Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. Available at http://www.edchoice.org/Blog/May-2015/Everything-You-Need-to-Know-About- Nevada-s-Univers. 4. Foundation for Excellence in Education. 2015. “Nevada Becomes National Leader in Education Reform.” Available at http://excelined.org/news/nevada-becomes-national-leader-in-education-reform/. 5. Decision available at http://studentsmatter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Tenative-Decision.pdf. 6. Editorial Board. 2014. “Special Ed Vouchers Would Give Parents Some Choices.” The Clarion-Ledger http://archive. clarionledger.com/article/20140225/OPINION01/302250022. 7. Hayden, Maureen. 2011. “Formula to fund Indiana public schools gets overhauled.” Indiana Economic Digest Apr. 30, 2011. Available at http://www.indianaeconomicdigest.net/main.asp?SectionID=31&subsectionID=135&article ID=59770. 8. Levin, Jesse et al. 2013. “Evaluation of Hawaii’s Weighted Student Funding.” American Institutes for Research, June 2013. Available at https://www.hawaiipublicschools.org/DOE%20Forms/WSF/WeightedStudentFormulaEval061913. pdf. 9. Foundation for Excellence in Education. 2014. “Digital Learning Report Card 2014.” Available at http://excelined. org/2014DLNReportCard/offline/download.pdf. 10. Kaplan, Thomas. 2015. “Cuomo Promotes Tax Credits for Families of Students at Private Schools.” The New York Times, May 17, 2015. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/18/nyregion/cuomo-promotes-tax-credits-for-families- of-students-at-private-schools.html?_r=0. 11. Peterson, Paul E. and Matthew Ackerman. 2015. “States Raise Proficiency Standards in Math and Reading.” Education Next Summer 2015, Available at http://educationnext.org/states-raise-proficiency-standards-math-reading/. 12. Ibid. 13. Decker, Geoff. 2014. “As Charter Sector Continues to Swell, a Space Dilemma Grows for De Blasio.” Chalkbeat New York Jun. 6, 2014. Available at http://ny.chalkbeat.org/2014/06/06/as-charter-sector-continues-to-swell-a-space-dilemma- grows-for-de-blasio/#.VYmjV_lVikq. 14. Kern, Nora and Wentana Gebru. 2014. “Waiting Lists to Attend Charter Schools Top 1 Million Names.” National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, May 2014. Available at http://www.publiccharters.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ NAPCS-2014-Wait-List-Report.pdf. 2 CHAPTER Appropriately Equipping Our Students Today for a Prosperous Tomorrow 22 Report Card on American Education Appropriately Equipping Our Students Today for a Prosperous Tomorrow Education policy cannot hope to solve the prob- lem alone, but it can contribute. Current age de- mographic projections foretell an impending fu- ture in which the demand for public dollars in the form of health care, public pension outlays and education expenses exceeds the likely sup- ply of public dollars—absent a substantial and sustained period of above-average econom- ic growth. Better-educated students today will translate into growth and innovation tomorrow. Appropriately equipping the America of to- morrow must start today. Academic achieve- ment and attainment both strongly predict fu- ture earnings. Improved mastery of reading and mathematics strongly influences future college and career success for students in both low- and high-income households. For instance, the Na- tional Center for Education Statistics recently completed a tracking study of 2002 high school sophomores and their success in earning bach- elors’ degrees by 2012. Figure 2 shows the dif- ferences in college success among students from low-income families by their mathematics per- formance quartile. Among students from low-income households, those scoring in the highest 25 percent of overall mathematics achievement were more than eight times more likely to have completed a bache- lor’s degree than those who scored in the low- est performing mathematics quartile. Students from low-income families in the lowest quartile of achievement, meanwhile, had only a one-in-20 rate of obtaining a bachelor’s degree. Over the next 15 years public pensions will be strained and tax revenues may shift as many baby boomers move from their prime earning years to fixed incomes. In addition, demands for public health spending, at the state level primarily through the Medicaid program, will rise as the elderly population increases. In 2010, the nation’s largest retirement desti- nation, Florida, had the nation’s largest elderly population as a percentage of its total. However, looking forward in census projections to the year 2030, the vast majority of states will have a larg- er percentage of elderly population than Amer- ica’s prime retirement destination does today. Figure 1 shows the projections by state for pop- ulations of people 65 and older in 2030, along with Florida’s percentage of the same in 2010. Many states face increased spending pressures from both ends of the age spectrum due to the large increase in the retired populations coupled with large projected increases in their youth pop- ulation. The percentage of the population in the prime working years (ages 18 to 64) will shrink in all 50 states as both the elderly and youth pop- ulations increase. The youth of today will face considerable challenges as they become middle- aged taxpayers supporting an increasingly aging populace. Much of the working-age population in 2030 and beyond, those primarily tasked with keeping vital public services viable, sit in K-12 classrooms now. One major responsibility of pol- icymakers today is to ensure the policies enacted now increase return on K-12 investment. www.alec.org 23 APPROPRIATELY EQUIPPING OUR STUDENTS TODAY FOR A PROSPEROUS TOMORROW FIGURE 1 | PROJECTIONS FOR THE PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION AGED 65+ IN 2030 Source: United States Census Bureau 13.2% 14.7% 15.6% 15.9% 16.5% 17.6% 17.8% 17.8% 17.8% 18.0% 18.1% 18.1% 18.2% 18.3% 18.6% 18.8% 18.9% 19.2% 19.4% 19.5% 19.7% 19.7% 19.8% 20.0% 20.1% 20.2% 20.2% 20.3% 20.4% 20.5% 20.6% 20.9% 21.3% 21.3% 21.4% 21.4% 21.5% 22.0% 22.1% 22.3% 22.4% 22.6% 23.1% 23.5% 24.4% 24.8% 25.1% 25.8% 26.4% 26.5% 26.5% 27.1% 0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% Utah Alaska Texas Georgia Colorado Maryland California North Carolina 2010 Florida (NaGon's Highest in 2010) Illinois Washington Indiana Oregon Idaho Nevada Virginia Minnesota Tennessee Oklahoma Michigan Louisiana United States Kentucky New Jersey New York Missouri Kansas Arkansas Ohio Mississippi Nebraska Massachuse[s Wisconsin Alabama New Hampshire Rhode Island ConnecGcut South Carolina Arizona Hawaii Iowa Pennsylvania South Dakota Delaware Vermont West Virginia North Dakota Montana New Mexico Maine Wyoming Florida 24 Report Card on American Education CHAPTER TWO FIGURE 2 | LOW-INCOME SPRING 2002 SOPHOMORES WHO EARNED A BACHELOR’S DEGREE OR HIGHER BY 2012 FIGURE 3 | HIGH-INCOME SPRING 2002 SOPHOMORES WHO EARNED A BACHELOR’S DEGREE OR HIGHER BY 2012 Source: National Center for Education Statistics Source: National Center for Education Statistics 5% 12% 23% 41% Lowest Quar2le Second Quar2le Third Quar2le Highest Quar2le 21% 41% 61% 74% Lowest Quar2le Second Quar2le Third Quar2le Highest Quar2le NAEP Mathematics Quartile NAEP Mathematics Quartile www.alec.org 25 APPROPRIATELY EQUIPPING OUR STUDENTS TODAY FOR A PROSPEROUS TOMORROW dropouts, in essence, begin with the problems of the K-12 system. Fixing the leaks in America’s bro- ken human capital pipeline is a matter of utmost urgency for lawmakers. NAEP READING SCORES AS A PREDICTOR OF COLLEGE SUCCESS How well-prepared are students to face the chal- lenges of tomorrow? The National Center for Ed- ucation Statistics recently conducted a study that sheds light on this question. The National Assess- ment Governing Board established a commis- sion to study the use of 12th-grade NAEP read- ing and mathematics exams to estimate college readiness. The commission conducted a series of technical studies and reached the following conclusion: Students who are considered ready for college are generally expected to be academically pre- pared for entry-level college coursework. A combination of factors contributes to students’ readiness for college, including content knowl- edge, cognitive strategies, learning skills, and transitioning skills.4 As a measure of students’ knowledge in core subject areas, the potential use of NAEP results as an indicator of students’ academic preparedness for postsecondary ed- ucation and training is being explored by the Governing Board. A series of studies conducted since 2008 sup- ported inferences about performance on the grade 12 NAEP mathematics and reading as</p>
