<p>
</p>
<p>Um . . .Choklit? Are you aware that those kids in the “flyover states where there are zero educational standards” do better than Coastal state kids on BOTH the SAT AND the ACT?</p>
<p>Top 10 states, 2008 average SAT scores:
National average = 1511</p>
<ol>
<li>Iowa 1797</li>
<li>Minnesota 1784</li>
<li>Missouri 1775</li>
<li>Wisconsin 1768</li>
<li>North Dakota 1766</li>
<li>South Dakota 1766</li>
<li>Illinois 1762</li>
<li>Michigan 1751</li>
<li>Kansas 1733</li>
<li>Nebraska 1733
. . .</li>
<li>Washington 52% 1568</li>
<li>New Hampshire 74% 1555</li>
<li>Massachusetts 83% 1552
. . .</li>
<li>Connecticut 83% 1535
. . .</li>
<li>California 48% 1512
. . .</li>
<li>New York 84% 1473</li>
</ol>
<p>Every single one of the top 10 is a “flyover state”!</p>
<p>Of course, one reason the SAT state averages are so much higher in the Midwest is that, unlike the Coasts where most kids take the SAT (pulling down the statewide averages), a relatively small fraction of kids in the Midwest bother to take the SAT. Most kids in the Midwest take the ACT. On the Coasts, relatively few take the ACT. So you’d expect Coastal states to have higher average ACT scores, right? Well, no, not exactly.</p>
<p>Top 10 states, 2007 average ACT scores (I couldn’t find 2008 data)</p>
<p>National average 21.2</p>
<ol>
<li>Massachusetts 23.5</li>
<li>Connecticut 23.2</li>
<li>Washington 23.1</li>
<li>New York 22.9</li>
<li>New Hampshire 22.9</li>
<li>Vermont 22.8</li>
<li>Minnesota 22.5</li>
<li>Maine 22.5</li>
<li>Iowa 22.3</li>
<li>Wisconsin 22.3</li>
</ol>
<p>So, yes, a few (but by no means all) Coastal states come out marginally higher on their average ACTs that the Midwestern states, but not by much at all—nothing like the 200 to 300 point differential by which Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa kids beat Coastal kids on the SAT. And notice that the ONLY states that come out in the top 10 on BOTH lists are Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin—quintessentially “flyover states”! </p>
<p>By the way, according to the U.S. census, these same Midwestern states also have some of the highest literacy rates in the country, easily outstripping Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, etc.</p>
<p>So don’t come around here with your garbage about how the “flyover states” have “zero educational standards.” The fact is, in my part of the country educational standards are considerably higher than on either Coast.</p>