<p>laurendog–I agree with your hypothesis, even for Mass. If you eliminate the top 10% schools in any state you will probably have more accurate results. While Harvard, etc. are in Mass, they are more “national” schools and really aren’t just “Mass” schools (the make up of the school isn’t predominately kids from MA). Also, if you compare Mass state schools to other state schools, they would rank in the top 3, at least, for state schools.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[Education</a> Week: January 13, 2011](<a href=“http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2011/01/13/index.html]Education”>Quality Counts 2011: Uncertain Forecast) lists the following states with D grades in K-12 achievement:</p>
<p>California (D-)
Georgia (D+)
Illinois (D+)
Indiana (D+)
Michigan (D)
Wisconsin (D+)</p>
<p>Would you say that UM Amherst is automatically better than any of the state universities in these states?</p>
<p>Note: Florida gets a C+ in this list and is the sixth highest ranked state on this measure. The top five are Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Vermont, and New Hampshire.</p>
<p>The AT MA programs absolutely vary by university which is why she likes the one in our state. Most have a much heavier emphasis in the arts but a few have a heavier emphasis in psych. That is what she is interested in. </p>
<p>Her psych professors at the community college are all in agreement that the best approach is an UG degree in psych. If she would like to pursue a PhD at some point in the psychology field, they feel she will be better served with that UG in psych rather than an UG in AT. I am far from an expert in this so I am deferring to their logic which makes sense to me. She has also spoken at length with three universities that emphasize the psych classes over the art classes and they seem very satisfied with the path she has laid out and feel she is laying a good foundation to eventually get into their program. I am not saying there aren’t other options but these are the choices she has made after consulting with professors, admissions reps in the field, and a few art therapists.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus–as any rankings-take them with a grain of salt. Do you really think the Alabama K-12 schools rank higher than Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota when those 3 states, along with MA continually rank in the top four for ACT/SAT scores nationally and Alabama continually ranks around 48th. Do you really think those kids are “not prepared” to go to college with scores like that along with graduation rates in the high 90% for schools other than their inner city schools. Really? You do realized that these states get dinged heavily because their per pupil spending rates are “below average” nationally. What it doesn’t factor in is that states like Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas have very high rates of low income people and schools are forced to spend more/pupil to get kids up to grade level. In states where average incomes are higher, you don’t have as many special ed kids, saving schools a tremendous amount of money. That is considered a bad thing on this “rating”.</p>
<p>The K-12 achievement rankings were not about spending; they were about actual achievement, though in context with poverty rates and such.</p>
<p>"This year’s report includes a special study of state education-finance policies as well as its annual analysis
of school spending patterns and the equitable distribution of those funds. The national grade in school
finance holds steady at a C for 2011, after earlier dropping from a C-plus in 2009. "</p>
<p>"portunities for innovation, as state and local officials attempt to move forward
despite depleted budgets. This 15th annual edition of Quality Counts also features a special analysis by
the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, which tracks several key economic indicators over
time, unpacks education funding tied to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and documents
education-related jobs saved as a result of the economic stimulus package. "</p>
<p>Along with key findings all related to how much schools spend per pupil. This “ranking” he HEAVY on how much schools spend and not actual outcomes of the students. If that were the case, again, how do these C-/D+ schools continually top the nation in ACT/SAT scores, graduation rates and % of kids going on to 4 year colleges???</p>
<p>ucb - I don’t know how Education Week put together their rankings (although kudos to SteveMA for digging that process up!) but that list is ludicrous. Wisconsin consistently has one of the strongest public school education systems in the country. To give them a “D” in anything is ridiculous. Ditto with Indiana, Michigan and Illinois. </p>
<p>California is a total mess of great public schools and horrible ones. I don’t think anyone can extract any ‘useable’ data from California. If a student grows up in Palo Alto, I’ll be the public school is pretty darn great. In some other areas, probably not so much. I’m comfortable putting California in the ‘exception’ category due to the varied public school systems that exists in that state. </p>
<p>The Major Red Flag in Education Week’s Publishing is that Florida is 6th on any list that speaks about public school education. Anyone living there (or that has lived there) will tell you that the Florida Public Education system is no where close to 6th. I once taught history at a school there where the text books they provided for my students didn’t go beyond George Bush Sr. in the White House. It was 1999. ; )</p>
<p>wakeup13</p>
<p>A psych UG will allow your daughter flexibility to pursue a variety of Master degrees should her interests change. I was a Special Ed. major, then switched to Social Work for BA, then MSW (hence the plug for SW!), and ironically, I am a Clinical SW working in the Special Ed. setting. I’m impressed your daughter has taken the initiative to research her options. My rising Junior S is still floating along in his happy bubble, oblivious.</p>
<p>Entertainersmom,</p>
<p>I have another one and he is just like your son. He is going to test his theory that if he does nothing, it will all fall into place when he is ready. I don’t have quite the confidence he does in his plan. Ugh!</p>