K-12 Budget: $5.97 billion
New Hampshire ranked third on the Chance for Success Index, topping the rankings in family income, and reaching 3rd place in parental education levels.
That helped contribute to an overall ranking of fifth and a B grade.
But the state did have weaker performance on some indicators. For example, while New Hampshire ranked 13th overall in the finance category, it was 47th out of 49 states on funding equity.
The state outspends many others on education, ranking seventh in per-pupil spending, at $16,347 per student. Contrast that to Utah, which spends the lowest at $7,635 per student.
Among the Granite State’s most unusual education strategies are its efforts to rethink student testing.
In 2014, eight districts piloted a new competency-based assessment model, in which schools administer performance-based assessments throughout the year instead of a summative statewide assessment.
Building on that foundation, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has approved the state as one of four participants in the Every Student Succeeds Act’s Innovative Assessment pilot.
For more about New Hampshire’s Quality Counts score, click here.
