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WASHINGTON, DC  —  The Center for Education Reform (CER) released its 2017 Parent Power! Index (PPI), the nation’s foremost study of a parent’s ability to exercise educational options for their children.

The Index scores each state, along with the District of Columbia, from 0-100. This year’s leaders are Florida, Indiana, and Arizona, while those with the least parent power are North Dakota, Nebraska, and Alaska.

“When it comes to the education of their kids, every parent deserves robust opportunities to control the education of their youth, and access to full transparency of information to allow them to be informed consumers,” said Jeanne Allen, the founder and chief executive of the Center for Education Reform. “Every state should want to score an A on the Parent Power! Index.”

The Index gives parents an interactive tool to discover whether their state affords them due power — and, if not, what they can do to get it. Similarly, the Index helps legislators and policymakers understand how their state stacks up nationally, and how to improve their ranking.

Among the Index’s findings this year are these disappointing statistics:

Only 1 in 3 states offer a significant number of charter-school opportunities. Only half of all states provide parents the opportunity to choose a school for their children. Less than half of all states fail to make their education data transparent and accessible.

For more information visit edreform.com.

                                                               State Spotlight: 

Highest-Performing:

#1 Florida—89.2%

Florida, ranked first, has a multitude of opportunities for parents including a scholarship program in which over 130,000 students participate, and a relatively strong charter school law. Although the state doesn’t offer a parent trigger, it ranks high in providing parents power.

Score breakdown:

School Choice: 95%
Charter Schools: 82%
Online Learning: 95%
Teacher Quality: 88%
Transparency: 60%
#2 Indiana—89.1%

Indiana ranked second due to the state’s robust efforts to offered education opportunity. Parents have a great amount of power through a statewide program, offering numerous choices, more digital-learning opportunities than most states, and has a considerable record of teacher quality measures.

Score breakdown:

School Choice: 88%
Charter Schools: 92%
Online Learning: 82%
Teacher Quality: 85%
Transparency: 80%
#3 Arizona—89.0%

Arizona scores third on the Parent Power! Index. The state affords parents a number of broad opportunities to make choices, including, one of the nation’s strongest charter-school laws. Parents can easily find information about all education opportunities, vote for school-board members during general elections, and have easy access to report cards.

Score breakdown:

School Choice: 95%
Charter Schools: 92%
Online Learning: 78%
Teacher Quality: 72%
Transparency: 80%

Lowest-Performing:

#49 Alaska—18.0%

Alaska, ranked 49th, offers very limited power to parents, a weak charter school law that limits authorization to school districts.​

Score breakdown:

School Choice: 0%
Charter Schools: 0%
Online Learning: 62%
Teacher Quality: 62%
Transparency: 80%​
#50 Nebraska—14.0%

Nebraska scores second to last, 50th, on the Parent Power! Index. The state does not provide opportunities for parents to make additional choices for parents outside of their traditional, zoned district. Report cards are difficult to understand, and the state has low teacher-quality measures.

Score breakdown:

School Choice: 0%
Charter Schools: 0%
Online Learning: 0%
Teacher Quality: 65%
Transparency: 0%
#51 North Dakota—13.0%

North Dakota, ranked 51st, earned the title of the state where parents have the least amount of power. This lack of power has catastrophic effects on the students. North Dakota needs to rethink its entire approach, and consider implementing changes to give parents the power and tools to reform education.

Score breakdown:

School Choice: 0%
Charter Schools: 0%
Online Learning: 0%
Teacher Quality: 65%
Transparency: 0%

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October 10th, 2017

For more information please contact Tim Sullivan at (202)-750-0016 or tim@edreform.com