[SMicheleHolmes]

This is a very difficult question to answer. Seriously, we cannot compare apples to oranges. What I mean by this is that each state has different standards and different assessments to evaluate those standards - our federal government decided a long time ago that the states would control their own education system. Unless Washington and California have the exact same standards and use the exact same assessment for evaluation, there is no way to compare them accurately.Then there are other factors to consider; for example, population. California has many more people than Washington. California also has a high population of students whose first language is not English, especially compared to Washington. The kind of education these students are getting can vary greatly from school to school - some may be getting bilingual education, some ESL, and there is great debate as to whether which program is more beneficial. There are also laws about exempting students from state assessment who cannot yet speak the language. I don't know the law in California, but I live in Texas, and the states are more fairly comparable than Washington and California concerning this special population. In Texas, recent immigrants can be exempt from state assessments for up to three years. Other assessments are done to show AYP (annual yearly progress). These assessments are different than the ones used in other states - again, how can we compare apples and oranges.However, our federal government has passed laws that now require the state governments to improve standards and assessment methods, but again, the laws do not dictate that all the states will teach the same thing and be assessed in the same way.One person said mentioned something about Mississippi being very low compared to other states. This is not truly accurate for the reasons above. They just have different standards and assessments. They probably stated this because Mississippi often falls at the low end of lists ranking states compared to one another. There are other states that always appear at the low end of the lists, like Arkansas. Statistics is funny; it can be made to look anyway you want it to look - and often what you're seeing is percentages and not actual numbers. Can you truly compare the populations of Texas and Rhode Island, for example? Better to know what your actually comparing. Example, Texas seems to always appear at the top of % of drop-outs. Well, just think about how many students are attending school in Texas.