The Parent Power Index from the Center for Education Reform (CER) ranked Arizona as the second-best state in the country for parental control over education. Florida beat Arizona out for the top spot, and both states were the only two states to receive “A” grades.
CER said, “Arizona, holding strong at 2nd with an A-, continues to blaze trails in education freedom. Universal ESAs and a thriving charter sector make the Grand Canyon State a beacon for personalized learning nationwide.”
The state also ranked high in other categories. Arizona achieved a perfect score from CER for transparency and ranked second after Florida for both charter schools and school choice. It ranked fourth for transformational learning and the 75th percentile for both leadership and constitutional issues. The state scored a zero, however, for teacher quality.
Arizona was also somewhat comparable to the Sunshine State for student achievement. Arizona’s graduation rate is 77.5 percent compared to Florida’s 88 percent. Reading proficiency in 8th grade is at 28 percent in Arizona, compared to 25 percent in Florida.
Arizona beat out Democratic-controlled states in many areas. For example, numerous Democratic states scored an “F” for parental control over education. Michigan’s reading proficiency rate for 8th graders is only 25 percent, whereas Maine scored 26 percent for 8th grade proficiency, and Oregon scored 27 percent.
The figures don’t include private school or homeschooling metrics, as those are not required to be publicly reported. Since these schools tend to have very high proficiency rates and graduation rates, the metrics aren’t very reflective of students overall in each state.
