With more than half of educators reporting significant learning loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2021's States with the Best & Worst School Systems, as well as accompanying videos and expert commentary.
In order to determine the best school systems in America, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 32 key measures of quality and safety. The data set ranges from pupil-teacher ratio and dropout rate to median standardized-test scores.
| States with the Best School Systems | States with the Worst School Systems |
| 1. Massachusetts | 42. Oregon |
| 2. Connecticut | 43. South Carolina |
| 3. New Jersey | 44. West Virginia |
| 4. Virginia | 45. Mississippi |
| 5. New Hampshire | 46. Oklahoma |
| 6. Maryland | 47. Alabama |
| 7. Delaware | 48. Alaska |
| 8. Nebraska | 49. Arizona |
| 9. Wisconsin | 50. Louisiana |
| 10. Vermont | 51. New Mexico |
Best vs. Worst
- Alabama has the lowest dropout rate, 8.30 percent, which is 3.7 times lower than in the District of Columbia, the highest at 31.10 percent.
- Vermont has the lowest pupil-teacher ratio, 10.83, which is 2.2 times lower than in Arizona, the highest at 23.56.
- Massachusetts has the lowest share of high school students who reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property, 4.50 percent, which is 2.8 times lower than in Louisiana, the highest at 12.40 percent.
- The District of Columbia has the lowest share of high school students who were bullied online, 8.90 percent, which is 2.3 times lower than in New Hampshire, the highest at 20.10 percent.
To view the full report and your state or the District’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-best-schools/5335