The magazine, which has graded states for 12 years, analyzed six areas for the 2008 report card. Education Week changed some of the categories in an effort to highlight two issues: how well states educate students from the preschool years all the way to college; and how well teachers are trained and evaluated, since teacher quality is one of the most critical factors in student success.

Rhode Island received a D in the teaching profession category. Education Week reviewed whether teachers are required to take subject exams to demonstrate their proficiency, and whether the state requires formal evaluations of teachers and ties the evaluations to student achievement.

Rhode Island fell short in both areas.

In addition, the state fared poorly in student achievement. Education Week analyzed the results of reading and math tests administered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, called the Nation’s Report Card. Rhode Island’s proficiency scores ranked low — although most areas showed improvement since the test was given in 2003 and 2005. Just 34 percent of fourth graders scored proficient on the math test in 2007, and 30.8 percent were proficient in reading. For eighth graders, 27.7 percent scored proficient in math and 27.2 were proficient in reading.

The report card also found that Rhode Island teachers are the highest paid in the nation when compared with other similar professions. These include: accountants, architects, clergy, compliance officers, commuter programmers, counselors, editors and reporters, human resources specialists, insurance underwriters, occupational and physical therapists, registered nurses and technical writers. Nationally, teachers earn just 88 cents on the dollar, when stacked against comparable professions. In Rhode Island, teachers earn about $1.12, or 12 cents more on the dollar than other comparable professions.