No surprise. The LDS church places a great deal of emphasis on improving oneself and obtaining as much education as possible.

I would say that they can read, but they can't analyze. How do we teach that skill?

So UTah has the lowest per pupil spending and one of the highest literacy rates. On the other hand, 2-states that spend a LOT more per student have the lowest rates. Considering liberals think money buys better education, this does not make sense. They keep saying our schools will be so much better if we only spend more money like New York and California.
I bet Utah would score musch higher if the illegal population was taken out of the mix.

But our education system is broken.

How can this be?

Somehow, 92% seems like a pretty dismal literacy rate. The CIA World Factbook lists the U.S. literacy rate as 99%, but if the highest rate in the country is 93%, they must be using different criteria. Maybe these figures are affected by immigrant populations that cannot read English, although they may be literate in their own language. I wonder what the literacy rate would be if it only measured those raised in Utah.

re:Jorge | 8:34 a.m. Jan. 12, 2009

>>I wonder what the literacy rate would be if it only measured those raised in Utah.<<

Remember Harry Potter & the Twilight series don't count.

It may be that the CIA counts only US citizens when listing 99% literacy rates. The 92% literacy rate is most likely a result of considering the entire state population, which includes a large number of undocumented people who are illitreate even in their native language, mainly Spanish. This 7% discrepancy would account for the illegals.

The dismal amount of money Utahns spend on education creates a gap between money allocated and money necessary to teach the core curriculum. The reason our students do so well on mandated tests is because our teachers, from their paychecks, fill that ever-growing financial gap between allocation and need.

It is shameful that our teachers use their personal funds to maintain the high level of teaching and learning of which we have become accustomed, and then pat OUR backs for having high literacy and testing levels. No one in education wants to "throw money" around to improve education, but properly funding education -- actually making a commitment -- will take greater funding than is currently budgeted.

The general population of our prisons and jails have little education. It is more expensive to incarcerate an individual, than it is to educate them. Why are we not looking long-term and concentrating on a well-educated, creative populace? I have no children in public ed or corrective institutions -- I want my money to educate, not incarcerate.

Tre,

I don't know what you are smoking. According the Utah State office of Education, 25% of our graduates can't pass basic reading exams. This article points out that only 8% of Utahns are literate and the biggest problem is 25 to 40 year olds. Why? Because a large percentage of our children don�t learn how to read until they get out of public school and teach themselves.