Utah Students Lag Compared to Similar States

None by KCPW

(KCPW News) Utah students consistently rank right around the national average on standardized tests. But a new study from the Utah Foundation suggests they should be performing far better based on ethnic, education and income characteristics.

Utah Foundation Executive Director Steve Kroes says Utah should not be comparing itself to states like Mississippi or Louisiana or other places with a lot of entrenched poverty or large minority populations.

Instead, the Utah Foundation report puts Utah's test scores up against those in Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin, which share similar income and ethnic makeup. And the result is grim, says Kroes. Utah's students score much worse than students in its "peer states," despite common advantages.

Kroes says the Utah Foundation is planning other research into the possible causes of that shortcoming. One early indication is funding. Utah spends about three-thousand dollars a year per-student compared to an average of eight-thousand dollars among peer states identified in the study.

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