Schools
The Quality of New York's Schools 2016: New Report
New York is just average compared to other states, in the rankings by WalletHub.
With the start of school fast approaching, the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2016's States with the Best & Worst School Systems — and New York is in the middle of the pack of 51.
In fact, the state's rank at No. 25 puts it far behind its neighbors: New Jersey was ranked No. 2 and Connecticut was ranked No. 3.
To identify the best school systems in America, WalletHub’s analysts compared the quality of education in the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on 17 key metrics, ranging from “student-teacher ratio” to “average SAT and ACT scores” to “dropout rate.”
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In addition to an overall ranking, the website gave states two base scores, one for safety and one for quality. New York ranked No. 32 for quality and No. 15 for safety.
Here are the state's scores on nine of the 17 metrics (1=Best; 25=Avg.):
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- 21st – Bullying-Incidents Rate
- 37th – Math Test Score
- 33rd – Reading Test Score
- 10th – Pupil-Teacher Ratio
- 39th – Dropout Rate
- 26th – School Safety
- 41st – Average SAT Score
- 5th – Average ACT Score
- 46th – Percentage of Licensed/Certified Public K–12 Teachers
To go along with the study, Khuram Hussain, Associate Professor of Education at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, offered five questions everyone should ask when evaluating a school system:
- Are teachers collaborative? Teachers that work in teams to plan and problem-solve, and use master teachers as mentors are better equipped to address a wide array of learning needs.
- Are educators institutionally supported? School systems with institutionally supported professional associations, unions, tenure and promotion opportunities as well as highly competitive salaries yield better outcomes than schools without such supports.
- Does the school support learning communities? From class size, to student cohorts, creating a small community that learns together is measurably effective at improving student learning in ways that isolated or overcrowded classrooms do not.
- Is there authentic, school-wide leadership? Authentic leadership entails school-wide participation in issues of school governance and policy making by students, parents and staff. The absence of school-wide leadership is indicative of top-down school structures with limited capacity for community-engaged learning.
- Is there deep commitment to multiculturalism? Schools that recognize and honor students’ home cultures in the curriculum promote inclusive and engaged learning. Furthermore, school systems that empower students to address social inequalities related to cultural differences help to build inclusive and just learning communities.
For the full report, click here.
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