Achievement is to Blank as Liberal is to Blank

I woke up this morning, and I was curious to see if I could put together a map of how states performed on the SATs and the ACTs.  It is fairly complicated, because some universities use the SATs, while others use the ACTs, and it depends on which state they are locate. A large number of students leave their home-states further complicating the system. The way I came up with to solve the problem was to take the SAT average and convert it into an ACT equivalent system and then weighted the average by the percent of students to take each test.

Top Percentile for 2013: 

State	Percent of Graduates Tested	Average Composite Score	SAT Participation Rate	ACT Equivalent	Weighted Average
New Hampshire	19	23.8	70	23.67	23.69775
Massachusetts	22	24.1	83	23.49	23.61781
Minnesota	74	23	6	27.0675	23.30506
Washington	21	22.8	60	23.355	23.21111
Connecticut	27	24	85	22.95	23.20313
Vermont	26	23	61	23.2875	23.20158

Followed by:

State	Percent of Graduates Tested	Average Composite Score	SAT Participation Rate	ACT Equivalent	Weighted Average
Virginia	26	22.6	71	23.175	23.02088
New Jersey	23	23	78	22.9725	22.97876
Oregon	34	21.5	49	23.4	22.62169
California	26	22.2	57	22.725	22.56054
Pennsylvania	18	22.7	71	22.455	22.50455
New York	26	23.4	76	22.185	22.49471
Maryland	21	22.3	73	22.4325	22.4029
Ohio	72	21.8	17	24.84	22.38067
Wisconsin	71	22.1	4	26.8875	22.35533
Iowa	66	22.1	3	26.8425	22.3062
Rhode Island	14	22.7	72	22.0725	22.17465
Kansas	75	21.8	6	26.64	22.15852
Indiana	38	21.7	70	22.3425	22.11644
Alaska	37	21.1	52	22.7925	22.08888
South Dakota	78	21.9	3	26.8425	22.08306
Montana	72	21.3	25	24.2775	22.0674
Missouri	74	21.6	4	26.7975	21.86654
Nevada	32	21.3	48	22.185	21.831
Nebraska	84	21.5	4	26.2575	21.71625

The Lowest Half:

State	Percent of Graduates Tested	Average Composite Score	SAT Participation Rate	ACT Equivalent	Weighted Average
Texas	37	20.9	59	21.96	21.55146
Georgia	51	20.7	75	21.9825	21.46339
Hawaii	40	20.1	64	22.1625	21.36923
Arizona	50	19.6	35	23.6025	21.24809
South Carolina	51	20.4	64	21.8475	21.20557
Maine	8	23.5	95	20.9025	21.10425
Oklahoma	75	20.8	5	25.65	21.10313
Colorado	100	20.4	14	26.0775	21.09724
Idaho	49	22.1	99	20.5425	21.05816
West Virginia	63	20.6	15	22.8375	21.03029
Utah	100	20.7	6	25.5375	20.97382
Illinois	100	20.6	5	27.3825	20.92298
District of Columbia	38	20.4	91	21.1275	20.9132
Florida	74	19.6	67	22.095	20.78557
Delaware	15	22.9	100	20.43	20.75217
Alabama	78	20.4	7	24.255	20.71747
North Dakota	98	20.5	2	27.405	20.6381
New Mexico	70	19.9	12	24.6375	20.59329
Arkansas	90	20.2	4	25.695	20.43383
Michigan	100	19.9	4	27	20.17308
North Carolina	100	18.7	62	22.5225	20.16293
Wyoming	100	19.8	4	26.3025	20.0501
Tennessee	100	19.5	8	25.7175	19.96056
Kentucky	100	19.6	5	26.3025	19.91917
Louisiana	100	19.5	5	24.9525	19.75964
Mississippi	95	18.9	3	25.0875	19.08941

Here is how it looks when mapped out:

2013 SAT/ACT Score by State

I then broke it down by Quartile: 

2013 SAT/ACT Score by State

I then broke it down by Half:

2013 SAT/ACT Score by State

I then pulled a map over laying the Half map and a map of state legislature by controlling party:

SAT/ACT Political Overlay Map 

There are obvious flaws in my methodology. There are also larger questions of socio-economic factors playing a more responsible factor in the systematic educational success of a population, and so forth. At the same time, I do believe this simple map is at the heart of the fundamental american dynamic.


Liam '14