ACHIEVING EDUCATION QUALITY: AN ASSESSMENT OF CONTRIBUTING FACTORS
This research assessed factors contributing to the achievement of education quality. The assessment involved the analysis of relevant macro variables collected by state.
The initial task in this research was defining education quality. One possible measure of education quality is the mean SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) score for a state. The SAT score is a recognized indicator of the scholastic potential of an individual. With respect to education quality, however, one drawback of the SAT score is that it reflects both learning and native intelligence. One may assume, however, that the various levels of native intelligence are more or less uniformly distributed across states. A potentially major methodological problem with the mean SAT score, however, is the variation by state of student participation. Some states require all high school seniors to take the test, while taking the test is voluntary in other states, and yet other states actively discourage all but the best students from taking the test. This variation in participation holds the potential to compromise the validity of mean SAT scores as a measure of education quality within a state.
A second possible measure of education quality is the proportion of the appropriate aged population segment within a state completing high school. The high school graduation rate is an indicator of formal educational attainment. The major methodological problem with the high school completion rate as a comparative indicator of education quality is that the graduation criteria across states and often across school districts within a state tend to vary widely. Theoretically, therefore, a low graduation rate in a state with high graduation requirements might not be an indication that education quality was lower than in a state with a high graduation rate and lower graduation criteria.
No possible measure ...