Arizona the Smartest State?Well, smarter than the
people who devised rankings making Arizona the dumbest state:
Morgan Quitno Press, which compiles state- and city-ranking publications, used a variety of measurements to create their list, including money spent on students, standardized test scores, graduation rates, teacher salaries and teacher/student ratios.However:
Horne pointed to the fact that Arizona students outperformed the national average on SAT scores as well as the standardized TerraNova tests.
TerraNova is a national test that compares Arizona students with their peers in reading and math.
"Arizona students perform above the national average on TerraNova, which is the principal measure by which we compare ourselves to other states," Horne said.
Arizona test scores are generally about average, but the state historically ranks at the bottom in terms of money spent per student.Better than average in results, well below average in cost? I'd call that pretty smart.
Update: See also
Mrs Media Matters, who has the complete list.
