Dive Brief:
- Opportunity Nation and Measure of America this week released their fourth annual index of the best areas for educational opportunity.
- The figures are based on three data points: on-time high school graduation rates, the percentage of adults with an associate's degree or higher, and preschool enrollment rates.
- The states faring best in the index were Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, while the lowest-performing states included Louisiana, West Virginia, Mississippi, and Nevada.
Dive Insight:
Opportunity Nation Managing Director Russell Krumnow told the Huffington Post that it was interesting to see changes over time, like the increases in both the number of Americans with at least an associate's degree and who graduated on time from high school. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for preschool enrollment, where numbers have declined.
The wonderful thing about the numerous education indexes out there is the ability to compare. For example, in the summer, WalletHub released an index of the best and worst education systems in the nation. It found that the top states were New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Kansas, with Nevada, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and the District of Columbia rounding out the bottom.
There was also the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Kids Count Report, which ranked top and bottom states. The top states, according to Kids Count, were Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. States at the bottom in that report included: West Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Nevada.
You might notice crossover among both the best and worst states in these reports. Hopefully, they notice, as well.