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I only have 2 data points of experience on this issue. Which I know doesn't mean much, but I'm left scratching my head after looking at their list. I spent the

I only have 2 data points of experience on this issue. Which I know doesn't mean much, but I'm left scratching my head after looking at their list. I spent the first 14 years of my life in Las Cruces, New Mexico (the state's second biggest city), and the schools I went to were not very good. I did high school in Maryland and the school system was a lot better (I initially struggled because I was so far behind everyone else - a friend of mine who moved to North Carolina for High School told me he had the same problem). In the author's ranking list, they place Maine at #48 and New Mexico at #41. I find this very hard to believe. There are so many problems that New Mexico has that Maine doesn't seem to have (gang problems, drug problems - at least at the magnitude that I saw in New Mexico). Unless Maine has some pretty bad schools, this just doesn't add up. US News lists Maine at #6, a ranking drop of 42 spots seems really significant.

kolbe 8y ago
I suggest you read the article if you're curious how they created their list. They explain their methodology pretty thoroughly.
ericcumbee 8y ago
I think part of it is the variability between school systems with in the same state. Las Cruces schools maybe below average for NM schools. Off Topic: I went to Las Cruces a few years ago when my alma mater played New Mexico State. The scenery was breathtaking.
- patorjk 8y ago
  Even though my comment was kind of negative, I love Las Cruses. The scenery and weather are the two things I miss the most. It's certainly possible the rest of the state has better schools, but I never heard anything about them while I lived there.
CBLT 8y ago
I'm confused by your comment, would you care to elaborate? Your anecdote has you moving from (the article's) rank 41 in quality to rank 6. You comment that the rank 6 state is much better than the rank 41 in education quality. However, you find their ranking hard to believe?
- patorjk 8y ago
  Sorry for any confusion. New Mexico moved from #50 to #41, while Maine moved from #6 to #48. This raised some flags with me since I went to school in New Mexico and find it hard to believe they have better schools than Maine, especially since Maine was previously ranked very high. So my gut feeling is their is a problem somewhere in how they’re crunching their data (though I’d just be guessing if I tried to pick apart their methodology).

kolbe 8y ago

I suggest you read the article if you're curious how they created their list. They explain their methodology pretty thoroughly.

ericcumbee 8y ago

I think part of it is the variability between school systems with in the same state. Las Cruces schools maybe below average for NM schools. Off Topic: I went to Las Cruces a few years ago when my alma mater played New Mexico State. The scenery was breathtaking.

patorjk 8y ago
Even though my comment was kind of negative, I love Las Cruses. The scenery and weather are the two things I miss the most. It's certainly possible the rest of the state has better schools, but I never heard anything about them while I lived there.

CBLT 8y ago

I'm confused by your comment, would you care to elaborate? Your anecdote has you moving from (the article's) rank 41 in quality to rank 6. You comment that the rank 6 state is much better than the rank 41 in education quality. However, you find their ranking hard to believe?

patorjk 8y ago
Sorry for any confusion. New Mexico moved from #50 to #41, while Maine moved from #6 to #48. This raised some flags with me since I went to school in New Mexico and find it hard to believe they have better schools than Maine, especially since Maine was previously ranked very high. So my gut feeling is their is a problem somewhere in how they’re crunching their data (though I’d just be guessing if I tried to pick apart their methodology).