The study, conducted by the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution, examined test scores for 37 urban districts by standardizing scores among states using different tests. Minneapolis Public Schools ranked third, following New Orleans Public Schools and Dallas Independent School District.
The study acknowledges a range of possible explanations for the improvements in urban schools, including the rise of accountability systems that reward or sanction schools based on gains among low achievers, most notably No Child Left Behind; the spread among urban school reformers of strategies that include school choice, standards, and lower class size; and the growth of mayoral control over city schools.
Complete information on the study, including urban school rankings, can be found at http://tinyurl.com/c6j7rr
