On Policy, Student Achievement, States Pressing to Measure Up

Despite continued fiscal pressures, states and the nation notch incremental gains on key indicators, Education Week's annual survey of education leaders finds, though challenges remain

By Amy M. Hightower

The 16th edition of Quality Counts continues the report's tradition of tracking key education indicators and grading the states on their policy efforts and outcomes. Each year, Quality Counts provides new results for a portion of the policy and performance categories that constitute the framework for the report's State of the States analysis. The 2012 edition presents updated scores and letter grades, for the states and the nation as a whole, in five of six areas perennially tracked by the report.

New analyses for the Chance-for-Success Index, the K-12 Achievement Index, and school finance, respectively, capture key aspects of the broader educational environment, school performance, and the level and equity of school funding. The two other updated categories focus on policies related to the teaching profession and to standards, assessments, and accountability. In all, these five graded categories span more than 100 indicators drawn primarily from original survey data and analysis by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center. The sixth category in the State of the States rubric—transitions and alignment...