Bad Scores at a High Price

Milford Track - photo by JoAnn Sturman

by Scott Sturman

Tucked into a 2 inch x 3 inch box among last night’s local shootings and an article about a preacher accused of rape and a weapons charge, lurked a report that California placed 5th from the bottom nationally in student vocabulary.  The distinction included both 4th and 8th graders who measured just above perennial academic powerhouses Mississippi, Louisiana, and the District of Columbia.  The culprit, as the news clip insinuated, may have something to do with per capita funding dropping from 23rd nationally to 35th, but the answer is more complex.

Spending on education and test scores vary across the country.  New York spends $18,600 per pupil, while Utah only $6060.  ACT average results range from 24 in Massachusetts to 18.8 in Mississippi. Yet Mississippi students perform better on the SAT than do their counterparts in Massachusetts.  SAT averages span from Iowa’s 1798 to Maine’s 1399. Yet, on the ACT Maine students score a full point higher on average than do their Iowa counterparts.   Apparently the ACT, a content based achievement test which reflects high school curriculum, and the SAT, a test emphasizing critical thinking, problem solving, and reasoning, measure student performance differently.

For a third of the money Utah out scores New York in the SATs 1674 to 1461 but falls short on the ACT 21.8 to 23.3.  For a little more than California spends on per capita education and for about half of what New York spends, Iowa clobbers New York on the SATs by a 337 margin but concedes the ACT by a 1.1 spread.

The obvious conclusion: Although good teachers make a difference, mom and dad really make a difference.  Academic excellence begins at home.  It takes a lot of money and teaching to compensate for a poor start and parents who care less about their children’s welfare than someone else.  

Zion N.P. - photo by JoAnn Sturman