•January 8, 2020•
By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

In a recent column, I noted that most, not all, downstate school districts perform below statewide averages on 11th-grade English and math tests. I didn’t blame anyone, instead noting that performance is directly correlated to the household incomes within each district; the lower the average incomes, the lower the test scores. Thus it has been since I began looking at these kinds of data decades ago. As downstate school districts tend to be lower in overall household income than their suburban counterparts, scores also tend to be lower.
Another purpose was to startle downstaters — parents, community leaders, and school folks — into working harder to become at least average. Nobody likes to think of his community as “below average.” And most folks have been unaware of their situation.
But space limitations prohibited me from going further, to write about how Americans across the country appear to be sleepwalking through our own decline when it comes to education. Unfortunately, our grandchildren will pay a steep price for our provincial ignorance.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.