@itiswhatitis wrote:
For a balanced view of how the states are doing, better sources would be the CBO.
I also like this:
U.S. News, with deep experience in rankings and analysis, has assembled thousands of data points about the states and produced an online portal that enables anyone to easily see what makes some states stronger and draw comparisons with others. The project is powered by a Leading States Index developed by McKinsey & Company, which has extensive experience in consulting focused on the improvement of state governance.
The benchmarks reach across seven broad categories – health care, education, opportunity, economy, infrastructure, crime & corrections and government – and include 68 metrics within the larger categories. The data come from reliable governmental and private sources, and the weight assigned to each category is based on a survey that McKinsey conducted about what matters most to people about their states.
"What we've helped do is collect a wide range of data – a lot of data from publicly available sources," says McKinsey's Andre Dua. "But we've also created our own proprietary data, particularly into how citizens view the performance of governments."
Health care and education are weighted most heavily.
And for this reason, Massachusetts – which ranks No. 1 nationally in education and No. 2 in health care in all of these metrics – stands out as the overall No. 1 Best State. New Hampshire – No 1 in opportunity for its citizens – ranks No. 2 overall. Minnesota – No. 2 in opportunity, No. 5 for infrastructure – ranks No. 3.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2017-02-28/best-states-explores-which-states-are-be...
I dont know if this is a reliable source either.....always check many sources and the truth lies somewhere in the middle...........Here's some comments on the source listed above:
A 2010 study criticized the US News rankings for not disclosing the relationship between their ranking methodology and the reputation of any given hospital.[5] The study stated that US News rankings matched other rankings about the market reputation of hospital brands, and alleged that US News rankings are overly influenced by brand image while doing less to assign a rank by health outcome metrics of patients who use medical services in those hospitals.[5]
Some higher education experts, such as Kevin Carey of Education Sector, have asserted that U.S. News & World Report's college rankings system is merely a list of criteria that mirrors the superficial characteristics of elite colleges and universities. According to Carey, the U.S. News ranking system is deeply flawed. Instead of focusing on the fundamental issues of how well colleges and universities educate their students and how well they prepare them to be successful after college, the magazine's rankings are almost entirely a function of three factors: fame, wealth, and exclusivity. He suggests that there are more important characteristics parents and students should research to select colleges, such as how well students are learning and how likely students are to earn a degree.[35]
“This is the prime fallacy of U.S. News: They think they’re measuring excellence, but they don’t have measures of excellence,” said Paul Glastris, editor of Washington Monthly, one of several publications that offer alternative rankings. “They don’t deliver the thing they say they deliver.”
Animals are reliable, full of love, true in their affections, grateful. Difficult standards for people to live up to.”
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