Measures of socioeconomic status (SES) are widely used in educational research and policy applications, in large part due to overwhelming evidence linking SES to student achievement. SES is usually conceptualized as an unobservable factor--a construct--measured using variables such as parental education, occupation, income/wealth, and home…

The Michigan Context and Performance Report Card measures school performance by adjusting standardized test scores to account for student background. Comparing schools using unadjusted test scores ignores the significant relationship between academic performance and student socioeconomic background--a dynamic outside a school's control. The…

The 2014 Michigan Public High School Context and Performance Report Card is the Mackinac Center's second effort to measure high school performance. The first high school assessment was published in 2012, followed by the Center's 2013 elementary and middle school report card, which used a similar methodology to evaluate school performance. The…

Beginning in January of 2012, the Alabama State Board of Education embarked on a bold and transformation plan for K-12 public education known as PLAN 2020. Foundational to this plan was a new definition of a successful and prepared high school graduate informed by community colleges, institutions of higher education, and business and industry,…

Assessing a high school's effectiveness is not straightforward. Comparing a school's standardized test scores to those of other schools is one approach to measuring effectiveness, but a major objection to this method is that students' test scores tend to be related to students' "socioeconomic" status--family household income, for…

Forty-four of the fifty states have experienced school finance lawsuits as a consequence of funding gaps between rich and poor districts. In some states, such as Kentucky, lawsuits brought about by property-poor districts have resulted in a statewide remedy that reforms the property tax system and seeks to provide every child with an adequate…

Public education in Alabama is moving in the right direction and is poised to be a national model for the college and career readiness of its students. Through some of the most challenging financial circumstances, public education in Alabama has continued to show great promise in many areas, including reading, math, and science. The success of…

The Oregon Statewide Report Card is an annual publication required by law (ORS 329.115), which reports on the state of public schools and their progress towards the goals of the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century. The purpose of the Oregon Report Card is to monitor trends among school districts and Oregon's progress toward achieving the…

The Oregon Statewide Report Card is an annual publication required by law (ORS 329.115), which reports on the state of public schools and their progress towards the goals of the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century. The purpose of the Oregon Report Card is to monitor trends among school districts and Oregon's progress toward achieving the…

Public schools can be considered a form of workforce development, and thus it is important to measure the "work product" of the schools. The Public Policy Forum's annual analysis of public schools in the 50 districts serving southeastern Wisconsin measured absenteeism as educational opportunities lost because children were not in class.…

This is the 9th annual report on conditions affecting the Racine Unified School District RUSD). Over the past decade, the conditions affecting the district as well as the school outcomes have changed in some ways and remained stable in others. This analysis compares RUSD to nine peer school districts and the state of Wisconsin. RUSD peer…

This is the 8th annual report on conditions affecting the Racine Unified School District RUSD). Each study has confirmed that the Racine Unified School District (RUSD) faces greater challenges than its peers. Although these challenges have led Racine to spend slightly above the average amount per pupil, district performance tends to be below…

The relationship between success on proficiency tests and poverty has been widely discussed. This study explores the use of a neighborhood indicator of socioeconomic status based on school lunch participation of elementary school students in that neighborhood, and examines the relationship of poverty to success on a high school proficiency test in…

This brochure provides educators, statisticians, the press, the public, and other interested parties with selected facts and figures about education in Alaska. Brief tables give: (1) general district and school information for Alaska's 54 public school districts and its private schools; (2) student information, including enrollment and graduates…

This twelfth edition of "The Condition of K-12 Public Education in Maine" is designed to provide Maine citizens, legislators, and educators a yearly report on the state of Maine public schools and education. This new edition updates educational information which appeared in earlier editions, and also provides information on several new…