ATLANTA — Southern Regional Education Board states ranked among the nation’s best in pre-K-12 education policy in Education Week’s new Quality Counts 2009 report. But many SREB states are facing vast changes in their student populations that make improvements in education more crucial than ever.
Two SREB states — Maryland and Virginia — ranked among the top eight nationally in students’ chances for success in the report. Quality Counts’ Chance-for-Success index rates the 50 states and the District of Columbia using criteria such as high school graduation rates, student achievement, family income, parents’ education levels and more. Delaware was ranked 23rd in the report.
In K-12 student achievement, SREB states showed progress in the report, which used 2008 data for a second year. Maryland ranked second, Virginia sixth and Florida seventh in that category. Delaware and Texas also scored higher than the national average in the achievement category.
"Education is the key to economic success and social progress in our region," SREB President Dave Spence said. "States that are raising student achievement and graduation rates are overcoming the poverty and social challenges that our region has faced historically."
This year’s Quality Counts report also stresses the need for states to continue improvements in high school and college graduation rates as the region is seeing more students who are learning to speak English. Percentages of students from Hispanic and other backgrounds are rising significantly in SREB states.
"We need to improve student achievement, high school graduation rates and students’ readiness for college and careers at this crucial time. Otherwise, education levels in the region could begin to decline for the first time in more than a century," Spence said.
The Quality Counts report estimates that nearly 1.4 million students in the 16 SREB states now receive ELL (English-language learner) services. More than one in four ELL students nationally are not making progress in student achievement, the report shows, and rates are lower in some SREB states. ELL student achievement already is a major issue in several SREB states, the report shows, including Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
The report also shows that even though states will need tens of thousands of additional English-as-a-second-language teachers in the next five years, only 11 states currently offer scholarships, tuition reimbursements or other incentives for teachers to become specialists in the field. Nearly half of those 11 states are in the SREB region — Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Maryland and West Virginia.
The report notes that few states require training for all teachers in English-language-learner instruction, and that only 33 states have set standards for the instruction of English-learners. Florida — an SREB state — is one of only three states nationwide that require all prospective teachers to show they are competent to teach these students.
Three SREB states ranked among the top 12 nationally in the report’s grading of the states’ school finance systems for equity and spending: Maryland at ninth, West Virginia at 11th and Delaware at 12th. Virginia also ranked high at 18th.
The report ranked many SREB states high for building transitions for students and alignment of education policies. Maryland ranked highest in the nation for building transitions and alignment of policies and standards in the educational pipeline — from early childhood through college to the work force. West Virginia was second in that category, Tennessee fourth and Texas sixth. Georgia and Arkansas tied for seventh, and Virginia was ninth.
SREB states still need to ensure smoother transitions for students into the first grade through high-quality and widely available pre-K programs, and to strengthen transitions from the middle grades into high school, and from high school to college and career training/the workplace.
About half the nation’s college enrollment growth between 1996 and 2006 was among black and Hispanic students — "which is a new milestone in education for the region," he said. Among students from all groups, however, more progress is needed. Little more than half of incoming freshmen who begin bachelor’s degrees at public colleges and universities graduate within six years. (The college graduation rate is 55 percent nationally and 52 percent for SREB states.)
Even fewer students graduate with degrees or certificates from community and technical colleges. Increasing college costs are a major factor for many of these students. For more details on enrollment changes and graduation rates in your state, click on the following link and check out pages 4, 12, 17, 19 and 22 of our state Featured Facts reports from the SREB Fact Book on Higher Education: Featured Facts.
For details on the expected population shifts in your state, see pages 6 and 7 of the SREB state progress reports on education: State Reports.
For more on your state’s progress or to schedule an interview with SREB about the report, contact SREB Communications.
The Southern Regional Education Board, or SREB, based in Atlanta, was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to help leaders in education and government work cooperatively to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region. SREB has 16 member states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. More information is available online at www.sreb.org.
