The National Center of Education Statistics reports that in 2021 the combined population of America’s four mega-populated states totaled 16,770,000, or 34%, of K-12 public school enrollment of 49,450,000.
California ranked first with 5,960,000 students, but 350,000 fewer than the 6,310,000 in 2013.
Texas is second with 5,430,000 students, or 280,000 more than the 5,150,000 than eight years earlier.
Florida is next with 2,830,000 students, or 110,000 more than the 2,720,000 in 2013.
New York ranks fourth with 2,550,000, but 180,000 fewer students than the 2,730,000 eight years earlier.
In percentage terms, Texas’s enrollment increased by a robust 5%, Florida’s by 4%.
But New York’s enrollment plunged by a disastrous 7%.
This encouraging education news in Republican-governed Florida and Texas has continued with the results of the 2022 “Nation’s Report Card,” while the bad news is still snowballing in Democratic-run California and New York.
The average total score for the 50 states, on the 4th- and 8th- grade math and reading exams, is 987 points, which are an unprecedented loss of 19 points since the 1,006 total points in 2019.
Florida leads the four mega-states in 2022 with 997 points; followed by Texas with 981; New York with 977; and California with 973.
Since roughly 12 points equal one year of educational progress, Florida students lead their California counterparts by 24 points, or a combined two years of academic achievement.
Moreover, Florida’s Hispanic students, 35% of total enrollment, scored 985 points; and Black students, 21% of enrollment, totaled 934.
Hispanic students in Texas, 53% of enrollment, scored 949 points; and Black students, 13% of enrollment, totaled 937.
New York’s Hispanic students, 28% of enrollment, totaled 928 points, and they are 57 points, or 4.8 years, behind counterparts in Florida.
New York’s Black 4th and 8th graders, 16% of enrollment, totaled 903 points, and they are 34 points, or 2.8 years, behind counterparts in Texas.
Hispanic students in California, 56% of enrollment, scored 927, and they are 58 points, or 4.8 years, behind counterparts in Florida.
California’s Black students totaled 892 points, and they are 45 points, or 3.8 years, behind counterparts in Texas.
Very interestingly, California’s public-school K-12 enrollment of Black students, at 5%, is significantly lower than the percentages in Texas, 13%; New York, 16%; and Florida, 21%.
Furthermore, while California is America’s self-professed, leading “Diversity-Equity-Inclusion” state, the enrollment of white students is an anomalous 21%.
White students are 41% of enrollment in New York; 36% in Florida; and in 26% in Texas.
But the total scores for white students in the four mega-populated states, are fairly close: Florida, 1,034 points; California, 1,029; New York, 1,019; and Texas, 1,018.
The colossal hypocrisy of many affluent, “hyper-woke,” white parents in California, especially those who work in the entertainment, education, information technology and political professions, is exposed by their children’s huge underrepresentation in the state’s public schools.
On the 2022 “Nation’s Report Card,” Asian-American students trounced their classmates on the four crucial assessments. In Texas, Asians scored 1,109 total points; in Florida and California, 1,096 each; and in laggard New York, 1,068.
Thus, New York State’s Asian 4th and 8th graders are 41 points, or 3.4 years behind counterparts in Texas; and they are 28 points, or 2.3 years, behind counterparts in Florida and California.
While the 2022 “Nation’s Report Card” only focuses on the large math and reading gaps, between white students and their Hispanic and Black classmates, the scores of Asian Americans in the four mega-states are much higher than those of their white classmates.
The largest gap is 91 points in Texas: Asians at 1,109, and whites at 1,018. California’s is 67 points: Asians, 1,096, and whites, 1,029.
Florida’s gap is 62 points: Asians, 1,096, and whites, 1,034. New York’s is 49: Asians, 1,068 points to 1,019.
Moreover, Asian students, in the four mega-populated states, have the highest percentages of an “advanced” score, the highest achievement level.
In 8th-grade math, in California, 28% of Asians and 13% of whites scored “advanced.” In Texas, 27% of Asians are “advanced,” but only 8% of whites.
In Florida, 20% of Asians scored “advanced” in 8th grade math, and 10% of whites. In New York State, the percentages are 25% of Asians, and 12% of Whites.
Tragically, in the four states on this crucial exam, the “advanced” percentages for Black and Hispanic students are between a totally unacceptable 1% and 3%.
Undoubtedly, academic success in each of the four mega-states is inversely proportional to average spending per pupil. In 2019, New York spent $25,359 per pupil, and California, $13,029.
Texas spent $9,792 per pupil and Florida, $9,670.
As enrollments and the “Nation’s Report Card” unmistakably demonstrate, public schools in Florida and Texas are flourishing, while those in California and New York are declining.
Mark Schulte is a retired New York City schoolteacher and mathematician who has written extensively about science and the history of science. Read Mark Schulte's Reports — More Here.
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