“From Cradle to Career”

Education Week Publishes 2007 Quality Counts Report With Mixed Reviews

“Parents in Michigan are Upset by Study on Kids’ Success” was the headline in the Local Section of the January 4th Detroit Free Press. Chastity Pratt ,Free Press education writer, went on to describe a study released Wednesday which said Michigan’s students, on average, are destined to be… average.

The study was Education Weeks 2007 Quality Counts Report which ranked Michigan 25th among the 50 states when it comes to a child’s chance for success, taking into account categories such as the unemployment rate, the number of residents who graduate with a diploma and income.

Ms. Pratt writes, “It concluded that the state’s children have an average chance for educational and career success largely because Michigan’s adults fall in line with national averages”. Some parents she interviewed complained that the study seems too defeatist. They believe success for students cannot be measured so easily by looking at the accomplishments of parents. “That’s too much stereotyping for me,” said Shaton Berry of Detroit, a regional representative in the Michigan Parent Teacher Student Association.

The state that ranked highest on the chance-for-success index was Virginia. The state that ranked lowest on the chance-for-success was New Mexico.

Has Education Week chosen the correct measures for student success?
What do you think?
How did your state rank?

View the report and let me know what you are thinking or feeling about the validity of their assumptions. Being from Michigan, or not, I certainly do not feel “average”.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2007/01/04/index.html