The quality of a community’s schools can be central to a family’s aspirations. And though public education has largely been a local matter for school boards and states that allocate most of schools’ funding, the federal government has played a large role for the past several decades. The No Child Left Behind Act, for example, put in place annual testing requirements for states, while the Every Student Succeeds Act enshrined the annual testing requirement but rolled back the federal government’s involvement in K-12 education. Its role may be scaled back further in the near future.
In evaluating the best states for education – one of eight categories driving the overall Best States rankings – U.S. News examined metrics tied to both higher education and the space from pre-kindergarten through high school. Learn more about the best states for education below, and see the Best States methodology for a detailed look at the data behind the Best States rankings.