The Smartest States

[Pantherholic]

States Ranked: Smart to Dumb
The smartest state is Vermont. The dumbest is Arizona.

These are the 2005-2006 findings of the Education State Rankings, a survey by Morgan Quitno Press of hundreds of public school systems in all 50 states. States were graded on 21 factors, including student achievement and attendance, positive outcomes, strong student-teacher relationships and school district efficiency. Other factors are the number of high school graduates, reading, writing and math proficiency, percent of school-age kids in public schools, high school drop out rates, student-teacher ratios and class size.

"The Smartest State Award recognizes those states that are committed to students and teachers, emphasize excellence in the classroom and ensure that public elementary and secondary schools are efficiently-run," said Scott Morgan, president of Morgan Quitno Press. "Vermont shines in many key areas of education. A high percentage of its students excel in reading, writing and math. In addition, schools in Vermont have smaller class sizes and lower pupil-teacher ratios than in most other states."

They're doing something right in New England. Massachusetts was designated the smartest state by Morgan Quitno Press the previous two years, and New England states dominate four of the five top slots this year.

The losers are Arizona, Mississippi, New Mexico, Nevada, California, Louisiana, Alaska, Alabama, Hawaii and Tennessee.

How does YOUR state rank?

1. Vermont
2. Connecticut
3. Massachusetts
4. New Jersey
5. Maine
6. Minnesota
7. Virginia
8. Wisconsin
9. Montana
10. New York

11. Pennsylvania
12. Nebraska
13. Kansas
14. Iowa
15. New Hampshire
16. Rhode Island
17. Wyoming
18. South Dakota
19. Maryland
20. North Dakota

21. Missouri
22. North Carolina
23. Colorado
24. Texas
25. Delaware
26. Indiana
27. Michigan
28. Idaho
29. South Carolina
30. Washington

31. Ohio
32. Illinois
33. Utah
34. West Virginia
35. Kentucky
36. Florida
37. Arkansas
38. Oregon
39. Oklahoma
40. Georgia

41. Tennessee
42. Hawaii
43. Alabama
44. Alaska
45. Louisiana
46. California
47. Nevada
48. New Mexico
49. Mississippi
50. Arizona

channels.isp.netscape.com/news/package.jsp?name=fte/smartstates/smartstates

I for one am appalled that Illinois is ranked so low what could possibly have gone wrong?





uicflames.proboards28.com/index.cgi?action=viewprofile&user=uicjason

any other possibilities?

[uwmfutbol]

Haha... well I guess for barbarians with no internet, we farmboys are pretty smart after all.

[Big D]

Yawn...

Do me a favor...since you live in such a smart state, try to do some meaningful research and find out which city is smarter...Chicago or Milwaukee. I have a feeling the rest of Wisconsin is making you look good considering Madison is ranked in the top 10 of smartest cities.

[Hack]

Oh Christ... don't even come here and give me that "Yawn" sh*t. Pot calling the kettle black.

[Pantherholic]

bigd said:

Yawn...

Do me a favor...since you live in such a smart state, try to do some meaningful research and find out which city is smarter...Chicago or Milwaukee. I have a feeling the rest of Wisconsin is making you look good considering Madison is ranked in the top 10 of smartest cities.

spoken like a true loser, making up some sorry-ass excuse. besides, you live in Virginia, what do u care?

[UWMKrazie]

Not to mention that 75% of people who say they're from Chicago are really just from the burbs. If they tell someone where you're really from nobody has an f'n clue. Face it, if it weren't for Chicago, then Illinois would be just another Vermont, Dakota, or Idaho! Wait, that would be a good thing as they are all ranked MUCH higher than Illinois!

[Pantherholic]

not too mention they compare every city to Chicago, even though most cities aren't trying to be like Chicago. and they think Milwaukee is not only farm land but that the closest internet connections are south of Kenosha, you've got yourself some REAL dumbasses.

[milwsport]

I don't find these figures all that surprising. All but 2 of the top 10 were blue states in the last election. All but 2 of the bottom 10 were red.

[Big D]

pantherholic said:

bigd said:

Yawn...

Do me a favor...since you live in such a smart state, try to do some meaningful research and find out which city is smarter...Chicago or Milwaukee. I have a feeling the rest of Wisconsin is making you look good considering Madison is ranked in the top 10 of smartest cities.

spoken like a true loser, making up some sorry-ass excuse. besides, you live in Virginia, what do u care?

Why is that a lame excuse? Are you saying that every city in Illinois is of equal intelligence? C'mon.

Yeah, I moved to VA in 2002 (notice how high VA is in the rankings now ...I lived in Chicago (or the burbs) all my life until then. As for that burbs comment, in Illinois, the close, surrounding burbs are referred to as the Chicagoland area. When you're out of Chicagoland, you'll know. I'm from Chicago Heights, which is a little south. You may not know where that is, but how many people live in a town out of state that you can recognize? Practically anyone who lives in a suburb or smaller city is not going to have their city recognized by anyone out of state, no matter where you're from.

[Ron Diaz]

Unless you live in Tosa, right Lou?

[aknowsense]

bigd said:

Yawn...

Do me a favor...since you live in such a smart state, try to do some meaningful research and find out which city is smarter...Chicago or Milwaukee. I have a feeling the rest of Wisconsin is making you look good considering Madison is ranked in the top 10 of smartest cities.

Overall Rankings
This ranking represents the total score tallied by each city across five different literacy categories:Educational attainment; booksellers; newspaper circulation; library resources; and periodicals published. All categories were compared against the city's total population. See "Rank by Category" for more detailed results.

Rank Population
1. Minneapolis, MN 382,618
2. Seattle, WA 563,374
3. Pittsburgh, PA 334,563
4. Madison, WI 208,054
5. Cincinnati, OH 331,285
6. Washington, DC 572,059
7. Denver, CO 554,636
8. Boston, MA 589,141
9. Portland, OR 529,121
10. San Francisco, CA 776,733
11. Columbus, OH 711,470
12. Kansas City, MO 441,545
13. St. Louis, MO 348,189
14. Cleveland, OH 478,403
15. Atlanta, GA 416,474
16. St. Paul, MN 287,151
17. Louisville, KY 256,231
18. Birmingham, AL 242,820
19. Scottsdale, AZ 202,705
20. Colorado Springs, CO 360,890
21. Tulsa, OK 393,049
22. Austin, TX 656,562
23. Rochester, NY 219,773
24. Norfolk, VA 234,403
25. Baltimore, MD 651,154
26. Akron, OH 217,074
27. Indianapolis, IN 791,926
28. Charlotte, NC 540,828
29. Nashville-Davidson, TN 569,891
30. Baton Rouge, LA 227,818
31. Tucson, AZ 486,699
32. Omaha, NE 390,007
33. Sacramento, CA 407,018
34. Honolulu CDP, HI 371,657
34. Milwaukee, WI 596,974
36. Tampa, FL 303,447
37. Miami, FL 362,470
38. Montgomery, AL 201,568
39. Oklahoma City, OK 506,132
40. Toledo, OH 313,619
41. Albuquerque, NM 448,606
42. Lincoln, NE 225,581
43. New Orleans, LA 484,674
44. San Diego, CA 1,223,400
45. Fort Wayne, IN 205,727
46. Philadelphia, PA 1,517,550
47. Las Vegas, NV 478,434
48. Virginia Beach, VA 425,257
49. New York City, NY 8,008,278
50. Shreveport, LA 200,145
51. Buffalo, NY 292,648
52. Newark, NJE 273,546
53. Greensboro, NC 223,891
54. Dallas, TX 1,188,580
55. Wichita, KS 344,284
56. Fort Worth, TX 534,694
57. Oakland, CA 399,848
58. Chicago, IL 2,896,016
59. Plano, TX 222,030
60 Phoenix, AZ 1,321,045
61. Glendale, AZ 218,812
62. San Jose, CA 225,581
63. Houston, TX 1,953,631
64. Jacksonville, FL 735,617
65. Mesa, AZ 396,375
66. Fremont, CA 203,413
67. Memphis, TN 650,100
68. Los Angeles, CA 3,694,820
69. Detroit, MI 951,270
70. Garland, TX 215,768
71. Fresno, CA 427,652
72. Arlington, TX 332,969
73. Long Beach, CA 461,522
74. Anaheim, CA 328,014
75. San Antonio, TX 1,144,646
76. Santa Ana, CA 337,977
77. Corpus Christi, TX 277,454
78. Hialeah, FL 226,419
79. El Paso, TX 563,662

www.uww.edu/advancement/npa/special_reports/cities/allrank.html


Well that about settles that argument.

[Big D]

well that was a much better attempt, but here's another list (partial)...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
While it's sometimes hard to puzzle through why we live here at all, Men's Health Magazine has determined that Minneapolis and St. Paul are among the smartest cities in the United States.

In its current publication, the magazine listed Minneapolis No. 1 in "intelligence" and St. Paul No. 4 in its ranking of 101 cities. Criteria included the number of bachelor's degrees per capita, the number of universities, inhabitants' SAT scores, the number of Nobel Prize winners for physics and medicine born within the cities' borders, and state creativity scores as assessed by a group led by the man who wrote "The Rise of the Creative Class." A guy named Florida. Richard Florida.

The rankings caught some by surprise.

"Really?" said Jim Blackmore, national marketing director for MENSA, the international brainiacs' club. "Where does Boston fall in that ranking?"

Answer: second. Denver was third. Seattle (5) and San Francisco (6) were the only other cities to receive A+ grades.

Some other rankings from the Men's Health magazine list:

7. Madison, Wis.

11. Chicago

18. Des Moines

39. Milwaukee

101. Fort Wayne, Ind.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Which list is based on better criteria?

edit: here's the link

[Pantherholic]

When it comes to education, Alexandria, VA, bests the rest. In measuring this category we took into consideration high school graduation rate, spending per pupil, student/teacher ratio and education attainment. Here is the overall ranking of all 200 cities.

1. Alexandria, VA
2. Yonkers, NY
3. Madison, WI
4. Stamford, CT
5. Ann Arbor, MI
6. Washington, DC
7. Boston, MA
8. Burlington, VT
9. Overland Park, KS
10. Durham, NC
...
50. Wilmington, DE
51. Milwaukee, WI
52. Columbus, OH
53. Virginia Beach, VA
54. Irvine, CA
55. Kansas City, MO
56. Omaha, NE
57. Springfield, MA
58. Nashville-Davidson, TN
59. Portland, OR
60. Fargo, ND
...
100. Chicago, IL
101. Boise, ID
102. Mesquite, TX
103. Akron, OH
104. Birmingham, AL
105. South Bend, IN
106. Sterling Heights, MI
107. Columbus, GA
108. Torrance, CA
109. Lakewood, CO
110. Corpus Christi, TX

www.lhj.com/lhj/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/lhj/story/data/best2002_rank_02142002.xml&categoryid=/templatedata/lhj/category/data/lhj_home.xml&page=4

(click on the Education link under "Pages in this Story")

[Pantherholic]

This is my favorite....

In looking at the 200 largest cities in America, we measured: low crime, health, education, economy, jobs, lifestyle and child care. Below, see the full list of 200 cities, broken down into two categories: a list of 57 big cities (population over 300,000 people) and a list of 143 smaller cities (population under 300,000 people). Then, see how the cities placed across each category, and see how each category is defined.

1. Virginia Beach, VA
2. Boston, MA
3. Honolulu, HI
4. Austin, TX
5. Arlington, TX
6. Anaheim, CA
7. Minneapolis, MN
8. Colorado Springs, CO
9. San Diego, CA
10. Omaha, NE
11. Pittsburgh, PA
12. Toledo, OH
13. Washington, DC
14. Tucson, AZ
15. Columbus, OH
16. Long Beach, CA
17. Santa Ana, CA
18. Mesa, AZ
19. San Jose, CA
20. Charlotte, NC
21. Portland, OR
22. Fort Worth, TX
23. New York, NY
24. San Francisco, CA
25. Seattle, WA
26. Sacramento, CA
27. Los Angeles, CA
28. Kansas City, MO
29. Fresno, CA
30. Denver, CO
31. Tulsa, OK
32. Tampa, FL
33. Milwaukee, WI
34. Atlanta, GA
35. Jacksonville, FL
36. Chicago, IL
37. Cincinnati, OH
38. San Antonio, TX
39. Wichita, KS
40. Las Vegas, NV
41. Phoenix, AZ
42. Oklahoma City, OK
43. Indianapolis, IN
44. Dallas, TX
45. El Paso, TX
46. Nashville-Davidson, TN
47. Albuquerque, NM
48. Houston, TX
49. Philadelphia, PA
50. Oakland, CA
51. Baltimore, MD
52. St. Louis, MO
53. Miami, FL
54. Cleveland, OH
55. Memphis, TN
56. Detroit, MI
57. New Orleans, LA

www.lhj.com/lhj/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/lhj/story/data/best2002_rank_02142002.xml&categoryid=/templatedata/lhj/category/data/lhj_home.xml&page=1

[aknowsense]

bigd said:

well that was a much better attempt, but here's another list (partial)...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
While it's sometimes hard to puzzle through why we live here at all, Men's Health Magazine has determined that Minneapolis and St. Paul are among the smartest cities in the United States.

In its current publication, the magazine listed Minneapolis No. 1 in "intelligence" and St. Paul No. 4 in its ranking of 101 cities. Criteria included the number of bachelor's degrees per capita, the number of universities, inhabitants' SAT scores, the number of Nobel Prize winners for physics and medicine born within the cities' borders, and state creativity scores as assessed by a group led by the man who wrote "The Rise of the Creative Class." A guy named Florida. Richard Florida.

The rankings caught some by surprise.

"Really?" said Jim Blackmore, national marketing director for MENSA, the international brainiacs' club. "Where does Boston fall in that ranking?"

Answer: second. Denver was third. Seattle (5) and San Francisco (6) were the only other cities to receive A+ grades.

Some other rankings from the Men's Health magazine list:

7. Madison, Wis.

11. Chicago

18. Des Moines

39. Milwaukee

101. Fort Wayne, Ind.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Which list is based on better criteria?

edit: here's the link

Well let’s analyze this argument:

My source: An actual poll done by a university study published in a scholarly journal vs.

Your source: Men's Health magazine poll conducted by using # of university's? (Bigger city more schools, doesn't equate to better education just more choices) # of SAT scores per capita, (Not all schools use SAT scores for entry and per capita means per head, or per person. More people more scores heavily skewed reasearch) and state creativity scores based on research by an author who used Milwaukee-Racine-Kenosha as one city and who bases his scores using this scientific hypothesis: What makes cities thrive? What brings good jobs to town? Not tax breaks or cheap electricity. It's more artists, migrants and gays, according to Richard Florida, professor of regional economic development at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.


I'm glad your UIC professors allowed you to do such thorough research.

Next time why don’t you post the latest “facts” from the Enquirer!!