EdWeek rankings become ludicrous

The new Quality Counts report from Education Week gave Kentucky an overall ranking of #10 for its public education program. That is pretty hard to accept.

But, check this out – ranking even higher than Kentucky in the new Quality Counts report is West Virginia, coming in at 9th place!!!

Please!

That is just ludicrous.

By the way, this EdWeek nonsense didn’t fool folks in Charleston, WV. Apparently, there might be a few better educated folks in West Virginia after all. At least they didn’t fall for the EdWeek nonsense the way our governor did.

I rest my case on the validity of this dubious ranking mess.

Now, let’s face some facts:

• Kentucky has a lot of new, untried standards and assessments on the books. I am hopeful they will pan out, but it is far too soon to declare victory, and it would be disrespectful of our students to try and do so at this time.

• At present, the most recent data available shows our white kids, who comprise about 84 percent of our public school population, seriously lag their counterparts in most other states around the country.

• The latest ACT data shows that among the states that now test all students with this college entrance test, Kentucky continues to perform poorly.

We have a lot of problems and a lot still to do. And, if this state really were in #10 position, it would only mean the rest of the country was in really dire trouble.

And, if anyone thinks education in West Virginia’s education system ranks in the top 9 in the country, they really are delusional.

In fact, blindly accepting a ranking scheme that says West Virginia is better than Kentucky is disrespectful to the citizens and educators in the Bluegrass State, as well!