The District ranked below most states in the nation in how well it prepares its students for success, according to a report issued Wednesday by the publisher of Education Week magazine.
The report, “From Cradle to Career,” ranked D.C. as a state for the purposes of the study, placing it 31st in the country. It took into account a combination of 13 factors such as parent income and education, preschool and kindergarten enrollment, math and reading proficiency, and adult income and employment.
The report is meant to show the chance for success of students in the trajectory from childhood to adulthood. The District lagged in the areas of elementary school reading, middle school math and high school graduation, as well as the income and education of families.
It did, however, rank above the national average in the number of adults enrolled in post-high school education or with a degree, as well as the number with incomes at or above the national median.
This discrepancy could be explained by the fact that the city has an influx of highly-educated adults from other parts of the country, said Carole Bausell, assistant research director at the Bethesda-based Editorial Projects in Education, which publishes Education Week.
A representative for D.C. Public Schools could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
In sharp contracts across the Potomac River, the report ranked Virginia first in the nation on preparing its students for success. Maryland also faired well, ranking fifth.
New Mexico took last place.
The magazine published the report for the first time this year, Bausell said. She hopes it will provoke discussion on how to improve education outcomes. Overall, she said, the report details a mixed picture of how school systems are readying their students for success.
“It certainly shows that No Child Left Behind has had an influence on states’ implementation of policies,” she said. “I think it shows that people are starting to pay attention and realize that if we are going to be competitive in a global economy, that we need to look at these transitions along the way.”
