Florida ranked top in education by U.S. News & World Report

Florida’s latest education ranking has caused controversy and led critics to question the validity of the methodology behind the rankings. U.S. News & World Report has rated Florida the No. 1 state for education for seven years in a row, prompting Governor Ron DeSantis and other state politicians to praise the state’s education system. However, critics argue that the ranking system uses limited metrics that do not accurately reflect the quality of education offered in the state.

Criticism of the U.S. News & World Report rankings has been voiced by Akil Bello, the director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, who has called the rankings “terrible and wrong.” He argues that the rankings are based on metrics that no one would actually use to evaluate education. The metrics used in the rankings include graduation rates, tuition costs, student debt, and the number of residents with a college degree, but Bello argues that these factors are not indicative of academic success.

Andrew Spar, head of Florida’s largest teachers’ union, also acknowledges the limitations of the ranking system, agreeing that the criteria used to rank states are quite narrow. Despite this, Spar does not discount the rankings entirely and notes that the state’s Pre-K through 12 education system was rated No. 14 nationally in the same report, citing test scores and college readiness exams, including the SAT and ACT, as contributing factors to this score.

Critics believe that the rankings mislead the public by suggesting that they provide real information about the quality of education when, in fact, they do not. Bello maintains that these rankings are misleading and that politicians’ endorsement of them is problematic. Instead of looking solely at such ranking systems, people should evaluate state education systems rigorously.

A spokesperson from U.S. News & World Report defends the ranking system, stating that Florida excels in eight of the ten education metrics used, including high school graduation rates, college graduation rates, and tuition and fees, and that the rankings are based on publicly available data, as well as proprietary data where necessary.

Despite these mixed reviews of the rankings, Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz claims that the Florida education model is an example for other states to follow, and that the state’s No. 1 education ranking is a testament to the state’s trajectory and the work being done in education.