The Obama Administration's Lone Star Mistake — The American Magazine

Opponents of Governor Perry are taking pot shots at Texas's schools.
How bad are they?
Not very.
The Obama Administration's Lone Star Mistake — The American Magazine

...Texas does a lot better than Duncan gave it credit for. In eighth grade math Texas is at the 88th percentile, meaning it beats almost nine out of ten states. Overall, Texas is at the 71st percentile, which isn’t shabby at all.

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....while Texas’s test scores are in the 71st percentile nationwide, its per pupil spending is in the 26th percentile—meaning that it performs better than roughly three-quarters of states while spending less than roughly three-quarters of states. Put another way, Texas’s education system generates scores that the average state would spend an extra $6,350 per pupil to produce.

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....Finally, let’s look at high school graduation rates. After all, Duncan said that “Far too few of [Texas] high school graduates are actually prepared to go on to college,” for which I presume that graduating high school is one important prerequisite. Across all racial groups, Texas graduates a greater percentage of its high school freshmen than the U.S. average. In one case, Asians, Texas’s graduation rate is well above average—99 percent versus 91 percent nationally. And in the case of Native Americans, Texas’s graduation rate is massively higher—85 percent versus only 61 percent nationwide.