SC got a ‘C’ grade for the quality of its education system, new ranking shows. Here’s why
The state of South Carolina recently earned a 76.43/100 in a 2023 Quality of Education Index.
The score was based on five factors, put together by online tutoring company Learner, which were applied to every state to determine how their education systems rank.
These five factors include the average SAT score, average ACT score, teacher-student ratio, public education spending and the high school graduation rate for each state.
The higher a state scored on the Quality of Education Index means the better the education is overall in comparison to other states. For example, the highest a state could score would be 100/100 and the lowest a 0/100.
Education is an important and widely debated topic nationwide, whose outcome can have a sizable impact on future generations. Aside from overall quality, basic education between states can vary greatly and even class requirements between them can be vastly different.
Here’s the factor-by-factor breakdown of how the Palmetto State scored a 76.43% overall average.
Teacher-Student Ratio Index Value: 73.33
Graduation Rate Index Value: 88.04
Public Education Spending Index Value: 68.27
ACT Index Value: 70.26
SAT Index Value: 82.27
For the index values, the statistics applied to the average SAT scores in 2022 by state were received from CollegeBoard.org, the average ACT scores in 2022 by state were pulled from ACT.org, public education spending by state was received from EducationData.org, the teacher-student ratio by state was received by PublicSchoolReview.com and the graduation rates by state were pulled from National Center for Education Statistics.
As for how other states scored, according to Learner’s Quality of Education Index, the states ranked the highest in each category included:
Public Education Spending: New York
Graduation Rate: Iowa and Alabama
Teacher-Student Ratio: Maine and New Hampshire
ACT Scores: District of Columbia
SAT Scores: Wisconsin
The states that ranked the lowest in each each factor in the index included:
Public Education Spending: Utah
Graduation Rate: District of Columbia
Teacher-Student Ratio: California
ACT Scores: Nevada
SAT Scores: West Virginia
The five states that scored the highest in the index begins with New Hampshire scoring the best in the country with an overall Quality of Education Index Value of 93.56, a teacher-student ratio index value of 100, a graduation rate index value of 95.65, a public education spending index value of 92.72, an ACT index value of 95.54 and an SAT index value of 83.87.
The top 10 states with their overall Quality of Education Index Value score included:
New Hampshire: 93.56
New York: 92.23
New Jersey: 91.98
Maine: 90.53
Vermont: 89.77
Maryland: 88.37
Massachusetts: 88.16
Connecticut: 87.74
Wisconsin: 87.69
Wyoming: 87.14
In last place nationwide, the state of Arizona’s education is reportedly the lowest quality in the U.S., after earning an index score of 72.95, which is more than 20 points lower than first place earner, New Hampshire, according to the Quality of Education Index Value.
Arizona’s remaining scores include a teacher-student ratio index value of 61.11, a graduation rate index value of 84.78, a public education spending index value of 57.87, an ACT index value of 64.4 and an SAT index value of 92.57.
The 10 states whose scores aligned with the lowest-quality of education in the country, with 50 being the lowest scoring state, included,
40. California: 76.77
41. Utah: 76.63
42. Michigan: 76.54
43. Colorado: 76.48
44. South Carolina: 76.43
45. Louisiana: 76.14
46. Nevada: 75.77
47. Alabama: 75.50
48. Idaho: 74.74
49. Florida: 73.22
50. Arizona: 72.95
This story was originally published March 3, 2023 at 5:30 AM with the headline "SC got a ‘C’ grade for the quality of its education system, new ranking shows. Here’s why."
