1. Education and opportunity Oct 10

2. Schools and equal opportunity Ideal of equal opportunity Differences in Educational Attainment High school grads: 80% (Texas) to 92% (Wyoming) College grads: 17% (WV) to 38% (Mass.) Grad degree: 6% (Ark.) to 16% (Mass.)

3. International Comparison (Math) Singapore 573 Japan 536 Switzerland 531 Finland 519 UK 494 US 481 Greece 453 Mexico 413

4. Connecticut vs Nation Connecticut Spending per pupil: $13,659 4 th Math: 45% 4 th Reading: 41% 8 th Math: 35% 8 th Reading: 37% HS graduation rate: 82% United States $9,683 39% 33% 32% 31% 74%

5. What affects academic performance? Spending on schools? – Attempts to equalize Family background Teacher/Administrator “Quality” Local autonomy vs. equal opportunity

6. Examples of variation (CT) Spending (000s) “Proficient” Writing (8 th ) Sharon25.995% Hartford21.767% New Haven 18.970% Wilton17.398% Hamden16.285% Bridgeport 13.963% Brooklyn 13.293% Danbury12.784%