Florida is No. 1 in book censorship, No. 47 in SAT scores

[Zorro]

Perhaps you caught the recent story about how Florida is now the national leader in school book censorship.

Yes, we’re No. 1 in censorship and 47th in SAT scores. What a completely unsurprising combination.

The most recent story cited a report from the state’s own education department that listed 700 censored books and a report from PEN America that found another 4,000 or so books had been pulled from school shelves, at least temporarily.

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ education officials responded with predictable gaslighting, asking you to ignore the facts. “Once again, far left activists are pushing the book ban hoax on Floridians,” a spokeswoman said. “The better question is why do these activists continue to fight to expose children to sexually-explicit materials.”

First of all, there is no “hoax.” The state’s own list cites hundreds of books by authors like Judy Blume, Dean Koontz and Flannery O’Connor that have been pulled from school shelves. Those are facts. You can call dog poop caviar if you want. It’s still poop.

https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2024/12/12/florida-is-no-1-book-censorship-no-47-sat-scores-column/

[hay rick]

1. The censorship ranking is legit, the SAT ranking is misleading.

State SAT rankings are heavily influenced by participation rates which vary widely.
See here: https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/sat-scores-by-state

According to the College Board, the average SAT score in 2022 was 1050. Participation rates ranged from 1% in Mississippi and North Dakota to 100% in the District of Columbia Lower participation rates in some states can be for a few reasons, including that more students may opt to take the ACT and that only the highest-performing, most prepared students take the SAT. Because cultural and socioeconomic factors and the quality of schools vary greatly between districts and states, average SAT scores vary greatly.

The following ten states had the highest average SAT scores: Wisconsin (1252), Wyoming (1244), Kansas (1238), Utah (1233), Mississippi (1226), Minnesota (1225), Nebraska (1222), Kentucky (1219), South Dakota (1219), and North Dakota (1212). Other states with average scores over 1200 include Montana, Tennessee, and Missouri. All thirteen of these states have participation rates between 1% and 6%, most likely indicating that only the highest-performing students took the SAT in 2022.

The following ten states had the lowest SAT scores: West Virginia (938), Oklahoma (951), Delaware (968), Idaho (968), Rhode Island (971), New Mexico (976), Illinois (981), Florida (983), the District of Columbia (985), and Michigan (1000). Participation rates were much higher among these states, with most states having 84% to 100% participation, except for Oklahoma, which had 17%, New Mexico with 42%, and Delaware with 65%.

[Blue_Tires]

2. Kick