State’s schools ace the wrong tests

Outside researchers give Arkansas schools high marks, but not where it matters most and where schools have the least ability to make an impact — academic achievement and chance for success in life.

Arkansas ranks fifth in Education Week magazine’s latest “Quality Counts” study, a yearly look at the nation’s schools that gives an overall grade to the country and compares states to each other. Last year, Arkansas finished sixth.

The magazine gives the state a total score of 81.6, a B-minus. Only Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Virginia score higher. The national average is 76.5.

Let’s stipulate that this could be just another egghead study with faulty assumptions and an agenda. In fact, all studies should be viewed with such a skeptical lens — even the ones whose results we like.

Let’s also point out that the distance between Arkansas at 5 and Oklahoma at 27 is five points. Dead last South Dakota scored 68.1, only 13.5 points behind Arkansas.

But this is a comprehensive, nationally recognized study often quoted by people when it suits their purposes, so I’m going with it.

In the study, Arkansas aces several areas that involve public policy. The state scored a 96.4, first in the nation, in the way it aligns public education with pre-school, college and the work world. Arkansas’ student learning standards, testing methods and school accountability measures together earn a 94.4, a solid A.

Arkansas scores great in another area: The teaching profession. The state ranks second with a B-plus 88 because of its support offerings, incentives and accountability measures.

Unfortunately, what Arkansas really needs to do is produce students who achieve in class and then succeed as adults. And in those areas, Arkansas doesn’t score so well.

In student achievement — test scores, graduation rates, etc. — the state gets a D, a 66.3, which places it 34th in the nation.

And in “chance for success,” the state ranks 44th with a 71.8, a D-minus. That includes, among other factors, home life issues such as family income and parental education levels. The state ranks 50th out of 51 in the number of adults with a two-year or four-year degree and in the number of adults with incomes at or above the national median.

Here’s what we can take away from this: In those areas where educators and policymakers have the most ability to make a difference, they are on the right track or at least are on what Education Week says is the right track. Far from perfect, of course, but at least moving in a positive direction.

In academic achievement and chance for success, however, outside factors are more important than whatever happens in schools. We are a high poverty state, and poverty directly correlates to test scores. We are a high single-parent family state, which directly leads to poverty. And this state has a lot of history and cultural factors to overcome.

Arkansas can make good policies, build good schools and develop good teachers, and we can debate whether that is happening, but Education Week says it is. But for all that to matter, families and the prevailing culture must value and reward learning.

If the state continues to score highly in policy areas, then theoretically its scores should improve somewhat in academic achievement and chance for success. If they don’t, then there’s something wrong with the study.

The state may have moved in the right direction after nine districts Wednesday were named New Tech Network members by the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet. This is part of Governor Beebe’s STEM Works Initiative emphasizing science, technology, engineering and math.

New Tech high schools do not look like traditional classrooms. Students teach themselves through hands-on projects using technology with guidance from the teacher.