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DEL.ICIO.USGeorgia is Not Last in Education
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In 2002 and 2003, Georgia ranked dead last among states in SAT average. This led to many a claim that Georgia is “last in education.” Simply not true. The SAT average is misleading in that some states such as Mississippi and Tennessee favor the rival college admissions test, the ACT. Without them in the mix, Georgia is going to fare poorly by comparison to east coast states that don’t have as many students living in poverty.
Education Week’s annual “Quality Counts” report points this out in listing scores on the National Assessment of Education Progress, a national test given to a sampling of students in fourth and eighth grades. On this measure, Georgia consistently ranks in the bottom third, but never dead last. That dubious honor usually falls to New Mexico or Mississippi.
At the top? Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Minnesota: all states with far fewer poor families than Georgia.
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