This State Has America’s Best Schools

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Jan 30, 10:00AM EST

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This State Has America’s Best Schools — © kali9 / E+ via Getty Images

As the U.S. president and Congress debate how much money will be spent on social services, education is a huge part of the debate. Will student loans be forgiven? When can schools safely reopen as the COVID-19 pandemic continues? The administration has proposed several hundred billion dollars to improve education results from kindergarten to community college to four-year institutions of higher education.

Ranking K-12 schools and colleges has become an industry unto itself. US News has made a major business from ranking colleges and universities. It has been joined by other evaluations from Niche, Forbes and the Princeton Review. Ratings of high schools also have emerged as a business. US News is a major force in these evaluations, along with TheBestSchools.org.

Scholarship portal Scholaroo has just released a study titled “2022 Student Success Rankings: States with Best & Worst School Systems.” The research has a complex methodology, which determines the strength of states based on a 100-point scale. The primary categories are “Student Success,” “Student Safety” and “School Quality.” Together, these categories are based on 42 metrics.

Student Success constitutes 50 of the 100-point rating. It included high school graduation and dropout rates, SAT scores, reading and math scores, and measures of how many students stay in school through high school graduation.

Student Quality makes up 30 of the 100 points. This includes measures of spending per pupil, pupil/teacher ratio, school ranking from independent researchers and the education level and salaries of teachers.

Student Safety includes measures of “bullying rates” and presence of illegal drugs, as well as data on robbery, the presence of weapons, rаpe, and other physical attacks.

The state with the best schools is Massachusetts, which has a score of 86.12. The primary reason is its number one ranking for the Student Success category. New Jersey and Connecticut follow, at 85.51 at 81.44, respectively. No other state has a score above 80.

At the low end of the list is Arizona at 51.56. It has unusually low scores across all three of the metrics.

Click here to see the states with America’s best schools

50. Arizona
> Overall score: 51.56
> State ranking for Student Success: #46
> State ranking for School Quality: #50
> State ranking for Student Safety: #45

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49. Louisiana
> Overall score: 51.95
> State ranking for Student Success: #49
> State ranking for School Quality: #49
> State ranking for Student Safety: #38

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48. Alaska
> Overall score: 53.98
> State ranking for Student Success: #48
> State ranking for School Quality: #39
> State ranking for Student Safety: #36

47. New Mexico
> Overall score: 54.30
> State ranking for Student Success: #50
> State ranking for School Quality: #24
> State ranking for Student Safety: #35

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46. Nevada
> Overall score: 56.73
> State ranking for Student Success: #47
> State ranking for School Quality: #42
> State ranking for Student Safety: #21

45. Oklahoma
> Overall score: 56.92
> State ranking for Student Success: #45
> State ranking for School Quality: #46
> State ranking for Student Safety: #15

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44. California
> Overall score: 58.55
> State ranking for Student Success: #20
> State ranking for School Quality: #37
> State ranking for Student Safety: #50

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43. Alabama
> Overall score: 59.25
> State ranking for Student Success: #40
> State ranking for School Quality: #44
> State ranking for Student Safety: #29

42. West Virginia
> Overall score: 59.38
> State ranking for Student Success: #44
> State ranking for School Quality: #27
> State ranking for Student Safety: #25

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41. Mississippi
> Overall score: 59.61
> State ranking for Student Success: #43
> State ranking for School Quality: #43
> State ranking for Student Safety: #17

40. South Carolina
> Overall score: 60.48
> State ranking for Student Success: #42
> State ranking for School Quality: #17
> State ranking for Student Safety: #44

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39. Idaho
> Overall score: 60.71
> State ranking for Student Success: #38
> State ranking for School Quality: #47
> State ranking for Student Safety: #10

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38. Montana
> Overall score: 61.21
> State ranking for Student Success: #29
> State ranking for School Quality: #41
> State ranking for Student Safety: #48

37. Hawaii
> Overall score: 61.78
> State ranking for Student Success: #36
> State ranking for School Quality: #30
> State ranking for Student Safety: #41

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36. Michigan
> Overall score: 61.94
> State ranking for Student Success: #32
> State ranking for School Quality: #25
> State ranking for Student Safety: #49

35. North Carolina
> Overall score: 62.14
> State ranking for Student Success: #31
> State ranking for School Quality: #40
> State ranking for Student Safety: #42

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34. Oregon
> Overall score: 62.68
> State ranking for Student Success: #39
> State ranking for School Quality: #29
> State ranking for Student Safety: #23

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33. Georgia
> Overall score: 63.27
> State ranking for Student Success: #41
> State ranking for School Quality: #15
> State ranking for Student Safety: #26

32. Arkansas
> Overall score: 64.17
> State ranking for Student Success: #35
> State ranking for School Quality: #28
> State ranking for Student Safety: #24

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31. Tennessee
> Overall score: 64.39
> State ranking for Student Success: #33
> State ranking for School Quality: #35
> State ranking for Student Safety: #28

30. Florida
> Overall score: 64.58
> State ranking for Student Success: #30
> State ranking for School Quality: #38
> State ranking for Student Safety: #18

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29. South Dakota
> Overall score: 64.88
> State ranking for Student Success: #17
> State ranking for School Quality: #45
> State ranking for Student Safety: #32

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28. Indiana
> Overall score: 64.89
> State ranking for Student Success: #25
> State ranking for School Quality: #36
> State ranking for Student Safety: #46

27. North Dakota
> Overall score: 65.65
> State ranking for Student Success: #24
> State ranking for School Quality: #34
> State ranking for Student Safety: #33

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26. Texas
> Overall score: 65.82
> State ranking for Student Success: #37
> State ranking for School Quality: #22
> State ranking for Student Safety: #5

25. Utah
> Overall score: 66.09
> State ranking for Student Success: #11
> State ranking for School Quality: #48
> State ranking for Student Safety: #9

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24. Wyoming
> Overall score: 66.16
> State ranking for Student Success: #21
> State ranking for School Quality: #26
> State ranking for Student Safety: #39

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23. Washington
> Overall score: 67.54
> State ranking for Student Success: #28
> State ranking for School Quality: #14
> State ranking for Student Safety: #14

22. Colorado
> Overall score: 68.01
> State ranking for Student Success: #19
> State ranking for School Quality: #33
> State ranking for Student Safety: #6

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21. Ohio
> Overall score: 68.02
> State ranking for Student Success: #34
> State ranking for School Quality: #13
> State ranking for Student Safety: #4

20. Kansas
> Overall score: 68.15
> State ranking for Student Success: #16
> State ranking for School Quality: #31
> State ranking for Student Safety: #12

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19. Kentucky
> Overall score: 68.34
> State ranking for Student Success: #22
> State ranking for School Quality: #23
> State ranking for Student Safety: #22

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18. Missouri
> Overall score: 68.65
> State ranking for Student Success: #27
> State ranking for School Quality: #18
> State ranking for Student Safety: #3

17. Illinois
> Overall score: 70.03
> State ranking for Student Success: #15
> State ranking for School Quality: #11
> State ranking for Student Safety: #47

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16. Maine
> Overall score: 70.45
> State ranking for Student Success: #12
> State ranking for School Quality: #21
> State ranking for Student Safety: #7

15. Iowa
> Overall score: 70.81
> State ranking for Student Success: #7
> State ranking for School Quality: #32
> State ranking for Student Safety: #27

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14. Nebraska
> Overall score: 71.93
> State ranking for Student Success: #9
> State ranking for School Quality: #19
> State ranking for Student Safety: #11

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13. Wisconsin
> Overall score: 71.94
> State ranking for Student Success: #6
> State ranking for School Quality: #20
> State ranking for Student Safety: #31

12. Rhode Island
> Overall score: 72.16
> State ranking for Student Success: #23
> State ranking for School Quality: #5
> State ranking for Student Safety: #30

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11. Pennsylvania
> Overall score: 72.24
> State ranking for Student Success: #18
> State ranking for School Quality: #10
> State ranking for Student Safety: #34

10. Minnesota
> Overall score: 72.61
> State ranking for Student Success: #4
> State ranking for School Quality: #16
> State ranking for Student Safety: #43

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9. Delaware
> Overall score: 74.07
> State ranking for Student Success: #26
> State ranking for School Quality: #6
> State ranking for Student Safety: #1

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8. Maryland
> Overall score: 74.33
> State ranking for Student Success: #14
> State ranking for School Quality: #9
> State ranking for Student Safety: #16

7. Vermont
> Overall score: 74.82
> State ranking for Student Success: #10
> State ranking for School Quality: #8
> State ranking for Student Safety: #20

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6. New Hampshire
> Overall score: 74.91
> State ranking for Student Success: #8
> State ranking for School Quality: #7
> State ranking for Student Safety: #37

5. Virginia
> Overall score: 75.59
> State ranking for Student Success: #5
> State ranking for School Quality: #12
> State ranking for Student Safety: #40

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4. New York
> Overall score: 77.38
> State ranking for Student Success: #13
> State ranking for School Quality: #1
> State ranking for Student Safety: #19

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3. Connecticut
> Overall score: 81.44
> State ranking for Student Success: #3
> State ranking for School Quality: #4
> State ranking for Student Safety: #13

2. New Jersey
> Overall score: 85.51
> State ranking for Student Success: #2
> State ranking for School Quality: #2
> State ranking for Student Safety: #2

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1. Massachusetts
> Overall score: 86.12
> State ranking for Student Success: #1
> State ranking for School Quality: #3
> State ranking for Student Safety: #8

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.