I wanted to get out ahead of the political steamroller that tends to accompany legislative sessions.  It seems to me that over the past few years public education has taken its licks.  We have heard countless rally cries that Idaho public schools are failing.  Well, I would like to share some insight regarding the cry that Idaho public school are failing our students.

To provide my insight, I first must share some statistical jargon.  Please power through this paragraph; it is important.  If an assessment is given to an entire group, let’s say all students in 4^th grade in the state of Idaho, it is completely within reason to make comparisons within smaller groups.  For example, one could make comparisons between school districts and be valid in making those comparisons.  However, if one chooses to assess a smaller portion of the students in 4^th grade in the state of Idaho, a comparison between smaller groups involves a concept referred to as “statistical significance”.  This term is a lot like the “margin of error” in a national poll.  Basically, it calculates a range in which outcomes, scores, are considered to be relatively the same.  This “statistical significance” is due to the reality that random selection cannot always be trusted to create a true representation of the whole group.  For example, if one region in Idaho randomly selected all the 4^th grade gifted and talented students as participants, one could see that region would score higher than what the true result would be.  Sorry, but had to get that out of the way.  Remember, “statistical significance” equals “margin of error”.

I will begin the call for changing the narrative for Idaho public schools by discussing funding.  While I am confident in my personal research on the matter which states Idaho ranks 51^st, last, in per student funding for public school students, it was recently brought to my attention that some reports show Idaho ranked 47^th.  Either way you want to look at it, I feel it is fair to say that Idaho is, and has been, ranked near the bottom in per student funding for its public school students.  A common theme I have heard in the political arena is a call to analyze the “return on investment” for our public schools.

Well, let’s take a look.  In 2024, the U.S. Department of Education via the National Center for Educational Statistics conducted the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).  While Idaho is often left in the shadows in the national education arena, it may be time to shine a spotlight on our state.  Please feel free to “fact check” me:  https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/profiles/stateprofile/overview/id?cti=PgTab_ScoreComparisons&sub=MAT&chort=1&year=2024R3&st=MN&sfj=NP&sj=ID

Now, I do not count the “Department of Defense Education Activity” (DoDEA) as a state to which we are compared.  This is my personal choice, but I wanted to be clear in what my following statement includes.  The 2024 NAEP results for 4^th grade reading show that only 5 states scored statistically significantly higher than Idaho (Massachusetts, Wyoming, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Colorado).   For 4^th grade mathematics, only 3 states scored statistically significantly higher than Idaho (Massachusetts, Florida, and Wyoming).  There is more.  For 8^th grade reading, TWO states scored statistically significantly higher than Idaho (Massachusetts and New Jersey).  Last but not least, for 8^th grade mathematics again only TWO states scored statistically significantly higher than Idaho (Massachusetts and Wisconsin).  Boy, talk about a RETURN ON INVESTMENT.  Wish I had that kind of luck with the stock market.

So, why don’t we CHANGE THE NARRATIVE about Idaho public schools.  The fact that we receive at, or near, the bottom in funding, our schools, OUR STUDENTS perform miraculously well compared to their national peers.  How is this possible?  Idaho public schools are full of amazing individuals who love our kids and work tirelessly on a daily basis to support them.  The teachers, administrators and support staff in our schools are nothing short of miracle workers.  It is my hope that we can at the very least acknowledge the unprecedented “return on investment” our public schools provide in this amazing state.  Rather than repetitive rhetoric that our public schools are failing, we need to hear more about the miracles that occur in our schools each and every day.