Wyoming education improvement lags despite heavy spending

Wyoming spends more money on students than nearly any other state in the U.S.,but that influx of cash has failed to translate to higher performing students. That’s according to a new report from Harvard University.

Co-author Paul Peterson says the study examined improvements from 1992 to 2011. Most states have closed the gap in that time period, but not the Cowboy State.

“Wyoming has been in the middle, so it’s really not one of the lowest performing states and it’s not one of the highest performing states, so it’s performing at the rate you would expect given where it was, but given all the money it’s been pouring in you would have expected more.”

Wyoming ranked 24thout of 41 states studied. The U.S. came in 25thout of 49 countries. Peterson says countries that showed good economic growth had high-performing students.