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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2005 > October > 14 > Entry
Report: Ohio getting dumber
According to an annual ranking, Ohio is getting dumber faster than any other state. Ohio fell 11 spots from 20th smartest state last year to 31st smartest this year. No other state fell as far down the list as Ohio.
Unfortunately, the list does not have a state-by-state explanation of the ranking that specifically explains how Ohio got its score. The ranking is based on 21 factors, mostly stuff like how many kids pass state tests, graduation rate, student-teacher ratio, school spending on instruction and teacher pay compared to pay for other jobs.
Ohio ranks behind both Dakotas, Michigan, Indiana, Wyoming and South Carolina. On the other hand we are ahead of California, Utah, Kentucky, West Virginia and Illinois. Vermont was No. 1 and Arizona ranked last.
It sure seems to me like Ohio ought to be higher than No. 30. Where do you think we should be ranked?
Permalink | Comments (15) | Categories: Testing
Comments
By Tony G
October 16, 2005 10:42 PM | Link to this
Anonymous, I noticed that you misspelled the word “adequate”. I suppose your school administration is responsible for your spelling errors too?By playton
October 16, 2005 9:11 PM | Link to this
personally i think ohio should be rated at the bottom with texas.smart people wouldn’t have voted for bush after all of the lies and corruption in his first term. the smartest ohioans moved elsewhere and try to pretend that they don’t know what ohio is. enjoying those record energy prices, unemployment rate high enough for you yet? go ahead dummies, vote repugnantcan again- do it until you have nothing left…By Bill
October 16, 2005 5:37 PM | Link to this
We should be #50 after losing millions of jobs since 2001 and still voting to keep Bush in office. That is enough to prove our state’s stupidityBy debby
October 16, 2005 5:07 PM | Link to this
Quite aside from all commentary about testing and who’s responsible for achievement gaps, “Ohio getting dumber” is a completely invalid headline when the Morgan Quitno site itself (the source of this ranking) says that because of a change in their methodology, “rankings for this year’s Smartest State Award are not directly comparable to last year’s rankings.” This particular blog entry is a sensationalistic misrepresentation of a ranking that is spurious to begin with. C’mon, measuring which is the “smartest” state (or the “dumber” ones, which is terminology NOT used by Morgan Quitno) is bound to be flawed from the methodological/statistical perspective. These kinds of rankings are attention-seeking devices, not valid reflections of reality. Does this mean that states’ achievement levels shouldn’t be compared? Of course not, but let’s keep the editorialization out of it. Calling a whole state “smart” (or “dumb”) on the basis of some company’s manufactured formula just doesn’t compute.By susan
October 15, 2005 2:24 PM | Link to this
The only connection between the decline in the industrial base and school decline may be related to the tax base that a strong economy provides. If you look at the states that rank at the top, most are hardly industrial powerhouses … Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts. My home state of Wisconsin came in at 5. It’s economy is dominated by farm, logging, tourism and some manufacturing, mostly in Milwaukee. It’s diversified. And it’s property taxes would make most Buckeyes blanch. It’s an expensive state in which to live but the people are bright, politically astute and enjoy an exceptional quality of life. You get what you pay for.By Doug
October 15, 2005 9:09 AM | Link to this
I’m not surprised about the decline in academic achievement in Ohio. So many districts in Ohio have had to cut personnel due to levy failures. Since 85 percent of a school’s budget is personnel, where do you think the millions of dollars of cuts are going to come from? This means a lack of support staff to help the kids who are dropped off at a public school’s door with severe problems. This also means higher class sizes. Since Ohio has constantly changed all their standardized tests from year to year, no one has been able to do any validity study. I contend that there is no correlation to the testing that Ohio does to acadmic achievement. Meanwhile, our state legislators sit back and watch levy after levy fail and do nothing. Instead they pour money into charter schools that haven’t worked so far and unproven testing. Want more thoughts on school funding? Go to my blog page ohioschoolfunding.blogspot.comBy Georgia
October 14, 2005 9:20 PM | Link to this
Scott, I enjoy reading your blog. Hope they give you a raise.By anonymous2
October 14, 2005 6:49 PM | Link to this
…and Alter is a tuition-based private school. At Alter, there are very few students on an IEP or 504 plan. Of course, the scores will look better. Try comparing Alter to a public school with dwindling resources, overcrowded classrooms and lack of parental involvement. You work with the resources you have and unfortunately, the public school system’s resources are dwindling. This has nothing to do with the administration or teaching personnel. We do the best we can with what we have.By anonymous
October 14, 2005 3:33 PM | Link to this
at alter, 98% of kids past the ohio graduation tests. this 31st ranking reflects the schools/administration, not the students. all students are capapble of passing with adequet teachingBy Dan
October 14, 2005 2:55 PM | Link to this
I am not surprised. At Middletown HS the administrators did away with tardy slips. Teachers are suppose to “coax” students to class on time. What kind of employees will these kids be?By matt
October 14, 2005 2:23 PM | Link to this
“If they didn’t have all these test(s) that you are required to pass to graduate th(e)n the graduation rate would go up and the drop out rate would go down.” Hey now, a Beavercreek student should know better than that! ;D On a side note though, when I went there, I had all D’s and F’s. When I took the proficiency tests, I was one of something like 3 people in my homeroom to pass them all first try. They all thought I was cheating. >:*(By Heather
October 14, 2005 12:57 PM | Link to this
If they didn’t have all these test that you are required to pass to graduate than the graduation rate would go up and the drop out rate would go down.By mj
October 14, 2005 12:32 PM | Link to this
Dayton definitely isn’t helping with that ranking much. A drive around town can be a good indicator of that. :)By Dave
October 14, 2005 12:16 PM | Link to this
Ranking based on spending may just reflect on the state of the economy. It certainly doesn’t reflect on the students being “dumb”. Please stop reporting such goofy rankings as this.By Bill Stamper
October 14, 2005 11:32 AM | Link to this
Having lived in Ohio for many years and seen it decline from one of the top industrial states to one of the lowest, I’m surprised that Ohio even makes 31st. The schools decline in proportion to the decline of the industrial base.