Public School SAT Scores by State Ranking

where’s Ken to tell us how GREAT the Hawaii public schools are?
With the highest sales tax in America-they tax your food, they tax your shoes, they even tax your underwear!

David beat me to it. I was just about to post this link http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/cbs-08-Page-3-Table-3.pdf
which shows SAT participation rates by state. In the midwestern states less than 10% of the kids (usually the cream of the crop) are also taking the SAT. RI is 66%, Maine is 87%.
I think it’s for this reason that, at the top of the page, there is this disclaimer: “The College Board strongly discourages the comparison or ranking of states on the basis of SAT scores alone.”
I’d want to look further, but you might still be able to get away with some sorts of comparisons.

JackD, That’s probably a better comparison than the 50 state comparison, but I’m not sure how much better. You’re trying to make the SAT scores prove a point about RI unions. I think you’re a long, long way from being able to do that with these numbers. Let’s take your VT-RI comparison. VT ranks 2nd (best) in the nation on the percent of children in poverty, with 8.9%. RI ranks 26th, with 15.7%. http://www.unitedhealthfoundation.org/ahr2007/childpoverty.html Does this have an effect on SAT scores? You bet it does. How much of an effect? Perhaps somebody knows, but I don’t and I don’t imagine you do either. Second, are the test-takers a random sample of students in each state? If one state makes an effort to get more low income students to take the SAT, it’s going to drop the average score. Again, neither of us knows whether the samples in each state are biased one way or the other. So, some of the difference (we don’t know how much)is surely attributable to differences in the student population. If the rest is attributable to the education system, what factors matter? What’s the curriculum look like in each state? (note that teachers’ unions don’t generally decide curriculum), What does spending look like? (VT has a funding formula like the other 49 states; we do not). Please do not take me to be an apologist for the current state of education in RI or for NEARI, PTU or AFT. I think that there’s a lot that needs changing. But with so many questions about what these data really mean, taking them as conclusive proof of the evil effects of unions is not justified. Moreover, trying to use the data to prove a predetermined argument really makes it harder to identify both the problems we face… Read more »

JackD says, “You do make a point though that as with any statistic, one can defuse any number based statistic by whittling it away with this factor and that factor in which case, no statistic will every really mean anything to work toward a resolution”
That wasn’t quite my point, and I would not go so far as that. I believe that statistics can often be very useful in identifying problems and solutions. I just think you need to be careful with them.
In the end, statistical arguments are like any other type of argument. And sometimes the numbers tell a story that can’t be “defused”.

Give it up Ken. a 45 sales tax on every good (including food and clothing) and service is worse than RI’s admittedly scummy 7% limited sales tax.
To quote the Tax Foundation on Hawaii:
“State and local governments combined collected approximately $2,284 per person in general sales taxes in 2005, which is the highest in the nation”.
http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/topic/24.html

Mike,
Why not quote the full Tax Foundation sentence:
“Hawaii Levies Sales Tax Below National Median, but Sales Tax Collections are Among Nation’s Highest
Hawaii levies a 4% general sales or use tax on consumers, which is below the national median of 5.4%. State and local governments combined collected approximately $2,284 per person in general sales taxes in 2005, which is the highest in the nation.”
Now let me repeat one more time for you so you might understand why the collection number per person in Hawaii is so high.
Island of Oahu is still receiving approximately 75,000 visitors a day. This is down from the average of 85,000 visitors a day due to the current economic conditions.
85,000 visitors a day in 2005 times 4% on all their purchases skew the Tax Foundation numbers.
Hawaii does not have a sales tax.
The Hawaii 4% General Excise Tax is levied on the gross sale of the business and not the consumer. It is up to the business to recoup the general excise tax from the consumer at the time of sale. If the general excise tax is not paid the State of HI can take legal action against the business only.
Rhode Island has a 7% sales tax and it is levied on the consumer. If the consumer does not pay the tax the State of RI can take legal action against the individual consumer. State of RI also requires residents to pay sales tax on all out-of-state purchases reported on RI state income tax forms. If the resident does not report out of state purchases the State of RI can take legal action against the individual to recoup lost tax revenues.

After looking at Justin’s posting of the States SAT scores and his ranking by the scores I decided to read the CollegeBoard SAT “2008 College-Bound Senior Total Group Profile Report” which was linked to by Justin.
At the very start of the report and each state report under the heading “Using This Report” is the following statement:
“not all students in a high school, school district, or state take the SAT Reasoning Test. Since the population of test-takers is self-selected, using aggregate SAT Reasoning
Test scores to compare or evaluate teachers, schools, districts, states, or other educational units is not valid, and the College Board strongly discourages such uses.”
In other words the College Board discourages ranking state by SAT scores which make Justin’s ranking much to do about nothing.