Illinois is among the top 10 states in the average salary it pays teachers, but it is among the bottom 10 in the average number of students for each school employee, according to a national ranking of states released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Education.
At $25,829, Illinois is ranked 9th in the nation–up from 11th three years ago–in average teacher salary, the department said in its third annual ranking of states. The average Illinois teacher salary in 1982 was $21,020.
The national average for teacher salaries is $23,582, up from $19,276 in 1982. Alaska paid public school teachers the most, an average of $39,751;
Mississippi paid the least, $15,971.
Illinois ranks 40th in the ratio of school employees to students, with 10.4 students for every school employee, an improvement from 11.4 per employee and a rank of 47th three years ago. School employees include teachers, librarians, secretaries, aides and janitors. The national average is 9.8.
Illinois` graduation rate declined over the past three years, dropping the state from 15th to 27th place, with 74.5 percent of high school students graduating, down from 76.1 percent in 1982. The national average is 70.9 percent.
Education spending as a percentage of personal income also fell, from 24.5 percent to 23.9, pushing Illinois to 32d from 24th place.
College entrance examination scores, however, have risen slightly.
”We compare favorably with other states in many categories, and that is pleasing,” said Illinois School Supt. Ted Sanders. ”But the data paints an incomplete picture of education in this state and the nation.”
Reacting to the slippage in Illinois` graduation rate, Sanders said he has proposed spending nearly $25 million for dropout prevention programs in the 1986-87 school year. In Chicago, the graduation rate is less than 50 percent, lower for Hispanic and black students.
The annual ranking of the states was begun in 1984 by former U.S. Education Secretary Terrell Bell. It has been criticized each year by state education leaders and teacher groups that say the data often lead to false conclusions.
Sanders is one of the leading members of the Council of Chief State School Officers, an organization that is developing its own system of comparing states. That system will include a national test given to selected students in each state and uniform methods of measuring graduation rates.
”It is a difficult task, but we think it will finally give people valid measures to make education policy decisions,” Sanders said.
In Washington, Education Secretary William Bennett noted that 35 states have shown increases in college entrance examination scores since 1982 and cited this as evidence that ”our schools are improving again; our children are learning more.”
Bennett lauded Illinois as one of six states with large concentrations of minority students and above-average college entrance examination scores. Illinois` average American College Test score was 18.9, up from 18.6 three years ago, and above the national average of 18.6 on a scale of 1 to 36.
But the Boston-based National Center for Fair and Open Testing (FairTest) criticized the use of college entrance examinations to measure the quality of schools.
”It makes no sense to use a faulty thermometer to measure the nation`s educational health,” said John Weiss, executive director of FairTest. ”Even the test publishers agree that ACT and SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) scores should not be used to compare school systems.”
Indiana University sociologist Brian Powell, a member of FairTest, said some school officials use ”artificial means” of raising test scores, such as ”discouraging low-scoring students from taking the exams.”
Teachers unions reacted with alarm to the example of Iowa, which tied for 1st place with Wisconsin in ACT scores–both had an average score of 20.3–and ranked 4th in graduation rates, but which placed a lowly 31st in average teacher salaries.
Federal officials have used Iowa as evidence that more money does not mean better education.
”Even if that were so, you should pay people what they are worth,” said Reg Weaver, president of the Illinois Education Association.
Nationally, average spending for education is 24.8 percent of personal income. The highest ranked state is Alaska, which spends 49.3 percent of its income on education, and the lowest is Nevada, which spends 20.3 percent.
Elsewhere in the Midwest, Minnesota ranked third in ACT scores with an average of 20.2. Michigan ranked 11th. Indiana, where most college-bound students take the SAT, ranked 18th among the 22 states where that test is predominant.
Minnesota ranked first in graduation rates with a rate of 89.3 percent. Michigan ranked third in teacher salaries at $28,401, an increase of $4,100 from 1982, when it ranked second.
