States with the best & worst school systems

[healthy11]

The U.S. still has a way to go, but based on this year’s 2015 edition of Quality Counts, released by Education Week, the nation is improving: It earned a C for its school systems, up from a C- last year. No state scored a failing grade this year; last year, Mississippi did.

The 10 "best" states are listed at homes.yahoo.com/news/the-states-with-the-best-school-systems--2015-231658463.html and a list of the "worst" are at 247wallst.com/special-report/2015/01/09/americas-best-and-worst-school-systems/4/

[bros]

NJ has some great school systems - there are so many kids enrolled in preschools because a lot of districts are getting financial incentives to operate preschools, then they use preschool as a way to make kids get used to school, rather than that being the entirety of Kindergarten.

[healthy11]

Bros, I don't know if NJ's preschool programs are full-day M-F, or half-day, but I just heard there's a push in my state of IL for full-day preschool. I suspect that since so many parents are working, it's designed to serve more like babysitting than anything else. Of course, most experts agree that young children should have time to explore and grow at their own paces, rather than being placed in a structured academic setting, anyway.
ecap.crc.illinois.edu/poptopics/fullday.html

[bros]

The ones in NJ I have encountered are half-day. They are primarily exploration learning, with not very rigorous academics (By the end of the year, they are expected to recognize the colors, be able to write their names, and a few other things)

Kindergarten is full day.

[michellea]

Our district has had full day kindergarten for at least 20 years. I can attest that it by no means resembled babysitting. It did allow for more unstructured time than first grade. But it was focused on skill development ranging from communications, social, physical and math and pre-reading/reading. It provided a forum for us to recognize that my son had an LD and he was evaluated and found to have a reading disability at the end of kindergarten.

[healthy11]

Michellea, I'm not surprised, because you live in Massachusetts, which was rated as the BEST of all the states! The rest of us aren't dealing with educational systems of the same caliber.

[dihicks6]

In my experience working in a sped K this year, I can tell you that I can immediately recognize kids that did not attend pre-school or hAve any literacy background at home. It's so difficult for these kids. Now, do I think K is too rigorous?? That's a discussion for another day!