Putting Education on the Map

Jun 7, 2011

The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly,” refers to more than just the 1966 spaghetti western starring Clint Eastwood. It’s the name of a new U.S. Chamber interactive web feature that illustrates the state of America’s education system.

A new interactive map created by the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce (ICW) compares all 50 states and the District of Columbia across nine categories, including standards, charter school laws and return on investment, of K-12 education.

“The goal of ‘The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’ map is to inform and mobilize business leaders and other key constituencies about the dismal state of K–12 education in America’s public schools,” says ICW Vice President Cheryl Oldham.

Users can click on their state to see how their K-12 education system is faring across the nine categories. There’s also an option to click on an individual category for a quick view of how all 50 states measure up against one another.

In all, the vast majority of states measure poorly in terms of their education reform performance. Two states have a particularly poor showing—Maine and Montana. Maine ranks low because of its poor teacher policies, low student achievement rates, large achievement gap, and mediocre graduation rates. Montana does even worse, earning an “ugly” score in five out of the nine categories. Particularly detrimental to both states is their lack of charter school laws. 

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