With property taxes rising across the country, we took a look at per-pupil spending in public schools and weighed it against student performance--college entrance examscores (SAT or ACT, depending on which is more common in the state), exam participation rates and graduation rates.
Only 43% of the 1.66 million private- and public-school students who took the college-entrance exam posted scores showing they are prepared to do well in college, according to data released by the College Board, the nonprofit group that administers the SAT.
The SAT data mirror scores from the ACT college-entrance exam which showed about 75% of students failed to meet college-readiness standards and served to increase the hand-wringing over whether U.S. high-school students are prepared to attend college and compete in a global economy.