Michigan earned a C+ in overall education quality from Education Week Magazine’s report, Quality Counts: Tapping Into Teaching. This score puts the state just above the national average. But state officials noted that the areas where the state ranks well in the report are areas that have been subjects of efforts by the Department of Education in recent years.

Of the six general categories, Michigan rated best on standards, assessment and accountability (A-) and worst on K-12 achievement (D).

“On the criteria the department has control over, like assessment, like standards and grade alignments, Michigan did extremely well," said Department of Education spokesperson Martin Ackley. "In areas where we don't have an impact, like local control or appropriations, we were found lacking.”

While Mr. Ackley said the results did not argue for passing control to his department for all education efforts, he said it was unfair to mark the state down because its structure was not what those compiling the report thought it should be.

New York earned the highest overall score, an 84.9 or a B, followed closely by Maryland, also with a B from an 84. The District of Columbia got the lowest score, 68.1, a D+.  Idaho was 50 th with a 68.4, also a D+.

Michigan's numeric score was 77.8. The national average grade for accountability was a B.

Achievement, the state's weakest area, was based on 2007 scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The state also saw its graduation rate fall to below the national average for 2003-04, earning a score just behind the national average of D+.

The other area where Michigan was behind the rest of the nation was in the teaching profession, with a D+ to the nation's C.  Among the state's failings were not making teacher education programs accountable for classroom performance (18 states do that), not linking student and teacher records (12 states do) and not tying teacher evaluations and student performance (12 states do).

Mr. Ackley had noted that proposals are under consideration that would cure many of these concerns as well.

Read the full report.