The Global Report Card Jay P. Greene, University of Arkansas Josh B. McGee, The Laura and John Arnold Foundation

Motivation for GRC State accountability systems encourage inappropriate comparisons Comparing suburban districts to achievement overseas is likely to be less flattering The complacency of suburbanites impedes serious systemic reform

Method Use AIR state math and reading accountability results across all available grades Estimate student achievement distribution in each state Adjust results for the extent to which the state under or over-performs the national average on NAEP and the extent to which the U.S. over or under-performs other countries on PISA PISA comparison is based on 25 countries with developed economies, not OECD membership

Assumptions Different tests of math and reading produce comparable information Achievement is not dramatically different across grades Achievement does not dramatically change from year to year Results are normally distributed Shifting entire state distributions up or down adjusts for over or under-performance

When the Best of Mediocre (math results) Beverly Hills, CA – 53 rd percentile White Plains, NY – 39 th percentile Grosse Point, MI – 56 th percentile Evanston, IL – 48 th percentile Montgomery Co., MD – 50 th percentile Fairfax, VA – 49 th percentile Shaker Heights, OH – 50 th percentile Lower Merion, PA – 66 th percentile Ladue, MO – 62 nd percentile Plano, TX – 64 th percentile Ann Arbor, MI – 58 th percentile

Pockets of Excellence Pelham, MA – 95 th percentile Spring Lake, NJ – 91 st percentile Waconda, KS – 91 st percentile Highland Park, TX – 88 th percentile 13 of top 20 “districts” are charters Rest are mostly rural and small

Pools of Failure Only 820 of 13,636 (6%) public school districts have average achievement in the upper third in an international comparison 9,339 (68%) are below the 50 th percentile None of the 50 largest districts are above the 50 th percentile, comprising roughly 8 million (16%) of all students

Pools of Failure (continued) Washington, DC – 11 th percentile Detroit, MI – 12 th percentile Milwaukee, WI – 16 th percentile Cleveland, OH – 18 th percentile Baltimore, MD – 19 th percentile Los Angeles, CA – 20 th percentile Chicago, IL – 21 st percentile Atlanta, GA – 23 rd percentile New York City – 32 nd percentile Miami-Dade, FL – 33 rd percentile (ordering is fairly consistent with Trial Urban NAEP)

No Refuge Four state have no traditional public school district above the 50 th percentile 17 states have none in the upper third More than half of the states have more than 3 traditional public school districts in the upper third of math achievement in an international comparison