This was a hard category to research. I'm glad I'm not a parent trying to find a good school system for my kids. Maybe it's easier when one knows the exact schools their kids might attend, instead of trying to learn about a whole county. I opted to research the entire county (when I could), knowing that inner cities often aren't the best measure for the educational opportunities and attidudes of the whole region. My data notes where I have county info or only city info.
Anyway, I added this broad category of things to research not because I'm planning to return to school or send kids of my own to school, but because I value education and would prefer to live in a community where most other people value education too. Turned out to be really hard to measure how much everyone in a county values education. So I turned to some statistics that I hope reveal both how educated the populace is, and how much support there is for education generally.
Anyway, I added this broad category of things to research not because I'm planning to return to school or send kids of my own to school, but because I value education and would prefer to live in a community where most other people value education too. Turned out to be really hard to measure how much everyone in a county values education. So I turned to some statistics that I hope reveal both how educated the populace is, and how much support there is for education generally.
High School Graduation Rate by County & City: County data from Patchworknation.org (2000). USA Today/EPE Research Center for primary city only (2006).
LA County: 69.90%. LA only: 44.2%. Lowest county rate.
Chicago/Cook County: 77.70%. Chicago only: 52.2%
Philadelphia County: 71.20%. Philly only: 55.5%
Columbus/Franklin County: 85.70%
DC only: 77.80%. Montgomery County: 81.5%. Fairfax County: 82.5%. PG County: 67.3%.
Denver County: 78.90%. Denver only: 46.8%
Portland/Multnomah County: 85.60%
Raleigh/Wake County: 89.30%. 82.2%.
Cleveland/Cuyahoga County: 81.60%. Cleveland only: 43.8%. Lowest city rate.
Des Moines County: 85.80%
Asheville/Buncombe County: 81.90%
Annual Public Education Spending City Only: (Bestplaces.net) I have no idea if there is a correlation between spending per student and the quality of the education.
Chicago: $4,528 per student Surprisingly low considering Chicago's generally high cost of living.
Cleveland: $8,393 per student Surprisingly high considering Cleveland's general low cost of living.
Number of Students per Teacher in Public Schools City Only: (Bestplaces.net)
Chicago: 20.2 students per teacher
Philadelphia: 18.4 students per teacher
Columbus: 17.8 students per teacher
Denver: 18.8 students per teacher
Portland: 17.5 students per teacher
Raleigh: 16 students per teacher
Cleveland: 12.2 students per teacher I suppose when 56% of the students drop out, that leaves a good student/teacher ratio behind.
Des Moines: 13.9 students per teacher
Asheville: 13.5 students per teacher
So all of that was about K-12 education. I also researched post-high school graduation information. I started with looking at how many colleges were in each metropolitan area.
Colleges: I couldn't be bothered writing down every single college in town; just some flagship schools an
LA: At least 6, including USC & UCLA.
Chicago: At least 12 in the area, including Chicago & Northwestern.
Philadelphia: A whole bunch, including UPenn, Temple & St. Joe's.
Columbus: Ohio State, plus others.
DC: At least 6, more in suburbs. Including my alma mater.
Denver: Several. Colorado U is 45 minutes away in Boulder.
Portland: A bunch, including Reed & Portland State.
Raleigh: NC State, others nearby like UNC & Duke, my other alma mater.
Cleveland: Cleveland State, CWRU.
Des Moines: Drake & Grand View. Iowa State in Ames is 45 minutes away.
Asheville: Several, including UNC Asheville & Western Carolina.
Percentage of elitist and indoctrinated snobs in the county age 25. Oh wait, that's what the pompous and anti-intellectual blowhard Rick Santorum calls them. I call them people age 25 and over with bachelor's degree or higher (US Census, Patchworknation.org).
LA: 29%, 25%
Chicago: 33.2%, 28%
Philadelphia: 22.2%, 18%. The lowest.
Columbus: 35%, 32%
DC: 49% (DC only), 39%
Denver: 40%, 35%
Portland: 37.5%, 31%
Raleigh: 47.4%, 44%
Cleveland: 28.2%, 25%
Des Moines: 32.8%, 16%
Asheville: 31.2%, 25%
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