Researcher to Discuss States' Educational Performance

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Matt Ladner

Matt Ladner, senior adviser of policy and research for the Foundation for Excellence in Education, will give a lecture titled "Friedman and Rawls: A Path to Bipartisan K-12 Reform" at noon Friday, Nov. 18, on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville.

The lecture is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the university's department of education reform. RSVP online at http://www.uark.edu/ua/der/ for a light lunch. The lecture will be in room 343 of the Graduate Education Building.

Ladner is a co-author of the 16th edition of the Report Card on American Education: Ranking State K-12 Performance, Progress, and Reform published in 2010 by the American Legislative Exchange Council. His lecture will be based on the book.

"The Report Card authors ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia based upon their (National Assessment of Educational Progress) scores and gains for the entire period in which all jurisdictions took the tests," Ladner said. "Maximizing comparability between states, the authors only tracked the scores of general education low-income children. Judging states by what they give to the children with the least generates surprises at the top, middle and bottom."