Baltimore NewsTrust - Blog: Truthsquad: Is Maryland "America’s number one public school system"?

In March 2011, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley stated on his website that Maryland has "America's number one public school system." This claim, which was frequently used by O'Malley and other state leaders in campaign speeches, has been questioned by several experts and commentators, who cite evidence that Maryland public schools are behind other states on a number of key measurements.
Given this controversy, we invited the Baltimore community to join our first local Truthsquad and fact-check this statement on theNewsTrust Baltimore site in June 2011. To find out if O'Malley's claim was true, NewsTrust staff and members posted and discussed a wide range of education statistics and competing arguments over school policies and student achievement.
After reviewing the evidence and views of our community on this statement, NewsTrust Editors find O'Malley's claim to be "HALF-TRUE."Here are some of the key facts and insights that led us to this finding....

 Baltimore NewsTrust - Blog: Truthsquad: Is Maryland "America’s number one public school system"?