This may be unpopular but I really do think that spending should be included in a ranking system. There are a lot of aspects of education that standardized test

This may be unpopular but I really do think that spending should be included in a ranking system. There are a lot of aspects of education that standardized testing can't (or won't) measure: access to extra-curricular programs, funding for art/music departments, technical education, etc. I'm willing to bet a lot of people here have experienced first-hand the difference that having access to a decent computer lab can make. You're not going to see that reflected in tests. Also, based on my own anecdotal experience of standardized testing in grade school, these tests rarely include questions about "controversial" topics in history or scientific ideas that are opposed by Christian fundamentalism. I suspect these are major areas where southern districts would struggle, given their disproportionate implementation of cough alternative textbooks. Overall, this smells of a common trend in American institutions where there's an ideological interest at play. An issue is raised, and it's decided that we need more data to decide. The data collection (in this case standardized testing) is designed in such a way that it produces results that skew toward the ideological position. Then the bad data is used to justify the ideological position. Law enforcement works the same way. Actually now that I'm thinking about it so do our elections.