It’s often said that the zip code a child is born into is a strong predictor of their future academic performance and the quality of education that they will receive. But perhaps the same can be said about the state where a child is born.
The New York Times recently reported on an analysis by the National Center for Education Statistics of the five states with the largest populations, showing the different performance levels of Latino students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress exam.
Those “mega-states” studied are California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas. Th five states enroll more than half of the country’s English language learners, a total of 2.9 million–nearly 1.5 million of whom are in California. They also enroll about 40 percent of the nation’s public school students, or 18.7 million students.
NAEP scores are seen as the best tool by which to compare academic performance across state lines.
One notable headline: California Latino students struggled considerably across the board, while Florida and Texas were strong-performers. While the analysis also shows that Latino students continue to lag white students considerably in performance on the tests (full report here), there was considerable variation in Latino performance between states.
The percentage of Latino eighth-graders performing at the proficient level or above in math in 2011 are below, with Texas leading the nation:
California: 13%, Florida: 22%; Illinois: 19%; New York: 13%; Texas: 31%; Nation: 20%.
And the performance of Latino eighth-graders proficient or higher in reading in 2011, in which Florida and Illinois led the nation:
California: 14%; Florida: 27%; Illinois: 23%; New York: 20%; Texas: 17%; Nation: 18%.
The performance of fourth-graders proficient or higher in math, in which Florida and Texas leading:
California: 17%; Florida: 31%; Illinois: 20%; New York: 20%; Texas: 29%. Nation: 24%.
The performance of Latino fourth-graders proficient or higher in reading was as follows in 2011, with Florida leading:
California: 12%; Florida: 30%; Illinois: 18%; New York: 20%; Texas: 19%; Nation: 18%.
And here is the performance of Latino fourth-graders proficient or higher in science in 2009, with Texas and Florida leading:
California: 8%; Florida: 23%; Illinois: 10%; New York: 13%; Texas: 16%; Nation: 13%
And the performance of Latino eighth-graders proficient or higher in science, with Texas leading the nation:
California: 11%; Florida: 24%; Illinois: 11%; New York: 12%; Texas: 23%; Nation: 16%.
Jack Buckley, commissioner of the NCES, said there was no “consistent pattern among these states,” The Times reported. And that, “each state seems to have areas where it shines and others where they lag behind its counterparts.”
The analysis includes the data broken out by other racial/ethnic categories and factors such as income and ELL status.
Learn more about the analysis of performance in the top five largest states here.
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