Which States Do the Worst (and Best) Job of Educating Kids Regardless of Class?

By Sharona Coutts and Jennifer LaFleur, ProPublica
Posted on July 4, 2011, Printed on July 5, 2011

Florida is a state of stark contrasts. Travel a few miles from the opulent mansions of Miami Beach and you reach desperately poor neighborhoods. There’s the grinding poverty of sugar cane country and the growing middle class of Jacksonville. All told, half the public-school students in Florida qualify for subsidized lunches. Many are the first in their families to speak English or contemplate attending college.

In many states, those economic differences are reflected in the classroom, with students in wealthy schools taking many more advanced courses.