The Educator Confidence Index as measured by publisher HMH sank to a historic low, from nearly 50% on the eve of the pandemic to 40% in 2022. That rebounded to 42% last year, according to the company’s annual Educator Confidence Report, which measures teachers’ perceptions of salaries, workload and well-being, and funding for classroom resources, among other factors.

About three-quarters of the teachers surveyed told HMH they had no plans to leave the profession, though some had not ruled it out. They also said seeing students grow and succeed was the biggest motivating factor in their jobs (aside from salaries.)

Teacher confidence sapped by politics

Meanwhile, a closer look at a series of recent surveys conducted by state education departments and unions shows that teachers and the districts that employ them continued to grapple with some considerable headwinds.

In Colorado, more than eight in 10 teachers said the intrusion of politics had dampened their morale while a third admitted that today’s political climate had driven them to alter their curriculum. “Due to the politicization of our schools, our educators have felt the need to censor themselves, which robs our students of the quality education that they deserve,” says the survey released last month by the Colorado Education Association. “We need to restore educator autonomy so that our educators are empowered to provide the best education possible for our students.”

Among the union’s goals for 2024 is to help pass legislation that will prevent book bans in Colorado schools and ensure students’ “freedom to read.”

Safety is also a significant concern. About one-third of the teachers reported being physically abused by a student in the past two years while a majority noted a deterioration in the mental health of both students and themselves.

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“Right now, we’re at the brink of a public education crisis,” the association’s president, Amie Baca-Oehlert, said in a statement. “We cannot expect our educators to remain underpaid, disrespected and unprotected and still show up to work day after day to educate our children. We are and will continue to lose quality educators to other states if this remains the case.”

9 in 10 teachers say …

More of Connecticut’s teachers—some 77%—were feeling frustrated and burned out in 2023, with nearly three-quarters telling the Connecticut Education Association they were increasingly likely to retire or leave the profession early. After stress and burnout, more than nine out of 10 Connecticut teachers reported having the following concerns:

1. School and classroom decisions made by politicians and non-educators
2. Staff shortages
3. A rising number of teachers leaving the profession
4. Lack of respect for educators
5. Declines in student mental health

Almost all of the teachers surveyed by Connecticut’s union listed the following solutions to burnout:

• More competitive salaries
• More planning and prep time
• Less non-teaching duties and paperwork
• More effective policies to address student behavior
• Smaller class sizes
• Appropriate mental health and behavioral support for students
• More teacher autonomy in instructional practices

“Political and personal attacks, toxic disrespect, and threats leveled at educators during school board meetings all contribute to the rapid pace of educators quitting the jobs they love,” the union’s president, Kate Dias, said in a statement.

Lack of applicants

Though not a direct measure of teacher confidence, recent data released by the Nebraska Department of Education show there were more unfilled teaching positions at the beginning of this school year compared to 2022-2023. There were about 140 more vacant positions reported by a smaller number of districts, according to Nebraska Public Media.

The top reasons for vacancies were a lack of applicants or a lack of qualified applicants, the department’s report explains. Special education had the most unfilled positions by far—more than double that of elementary education, the area with the second-higher number of vacancies.

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To help K12 leaders envision new learning environments, District Administration chatted with Melissa Turnbaugh, a partner and national education and innovation leader at the architectural firm PBK, which specializes in school design.

1. What aspects of school design should be prioritized to make students comfortable?

Turnbaugh: “Creating a conducive and comfortable atmosphere for students at school requires a dual focus on physical and emotional well-being. Physical safety measures, such as established security protocols, limited access, security film, cameras and unobstructed visibility, are essential to provide a secure environment. Equally important is fostering emotional safety, achieved through learning spaces that cater to diverse needs—offering various sizes and scales to accommodate different learning styles.

“These environments should be warm and inviting, characterized by abundant natural light, clean air, and adaptable furniture, promoting a sense of ease and security. Additionally, ensuring access to outdoor spaces is crucial, as studies show that spending time outside contributes positively to students’ physical and emotional well-being, enhancing attention spans and test scores and addressing behavioral issues.

“Given the substantial time students invest in the school environment, it is imperative that the surroundings actively contribute to their overall support and comfort, addressing both their physical and emotional needs.”

2. How do lighting, furniture and other design components help increase attendance?

“Boosting attendance is directly linked to creating an appealing and immersive school environment. Even simple adjustments, such as introducing natural light into classrooms, have demonstrated a positive impact on both student and teacher attendance as well as academic performance. A recent article in The New York Times highlighted a concerning nationwide increase in school absenteeism, emphasizing that ‘research consistently indicates that student attendance is a powerful predictor of virtually every other outcome.’

“The solution to this issue is multifaceted. According to the EPA, maintaining indoor air quality is another crucial factor that can contribute to increased daily attendance and decreased dropout rates. Furthermore, fostering a positive perception of school and promoting engagement can be pivotal. A study involving first graders who had the opportunity to manipulate and control their furniture revealed higher levels of engagement and attendance.”

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When these solutions are integrated, addressing factors such as lighting, air quality, and student engagement, they collectively serve to improve both student and teacher attendance rates, ultimately contributing to enhanced retention within the educational system.

3. Describe some innovative designs schools have adopted for classrooms and other spaces, and how they are conducive to learning.

“Educational institutions are adopting innovative approaches to space utilization, promoting flexibility and extension for both students and teachers. One strategic design involves integrating collaboration spaces directly adjacent to classrooms, allowing educators to securely send students outside the traditional setting for activities like small group instruction, personalized learning, coaching or simply a peaceful break.

“Moreover, various areas across the campus are repurposed for learning purposes, utilizing outdoor spaces for classroom activities and providing designated areas for students requiring moments of de-escalation and reset.

“This comprehensive use of every inch of the school campus for learning and instruction not only facilitates a diverse range of choices and spaces but also aligns with the principle of responsible resource stewardship. Such intentional design encourages adaptability, promotes a variety of learning environments and maximizes the educational potential of the entire school infrastructure.”

4. What new types of furniture are schools installing to increase student comfort and achievement?

“Recognizing the significance of accommodating diverse learning needs, schools are increasingly valuing the use of flexible and adaptable furniture. Both students and teachers appreciate the versatility provided by furniture that can be easily rearranged to suit specific programs or projects.

“Furthermore, in catering to students with distinct learning requirements, adaptable furniture allows for rocking or wiggling, contributing to the maintenance of attention spans and focus. The furniture in educational settings must align with the specific type of learning taking place, thereby enhancing the overall effectiveness of the learning environment.”

5. How does design improve teacher retention, confidence and well-being?

“A concerning trend is the high rate at which teachers are leaving the profession. As previously noted, teachers must experience a sense of support within the school environment. This encompasses not only physical safety, ensured through the implementation of safety measures and improved air quality post-pandemic, but also support in the realm of teaching. This involves providing tools such as voice amplification and creating teaching environments that align with their individual styles, including the incorporation of flexible furniture.

“Additionally, teachers require intentional spaces where they can collaborate with peers, fostering their well-being, promoting connections and facilitating ongoing professional development. Recognizing and addressing these multifaceted needs is essential to retaining educators within the teaching profession.”

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That may be because the medical community also doesn’t have a full grasp on just how social media affects the health of students, researchers contend in a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

“Research shows social media has the potential to both harm and benefit adolescent health,” the report says. “For example, algorithms that generate content recommendations can provide young people with important health information or expose them to unscientific treatments.”

The “direction” of the relationship between social media and adolescent health is also murky because social media may influence health but health may also influence how young people use social media. “There is also much to be learned about how specific platform features—such as “likes” or the endless scroll format of some platforms—may affect adolescent health,” the report posits. For these reasons … a more judicious approach is warranted rather than a broad-stroke ban, and does not make recommendations for specific limitations on teens’ access to social media.”

What is clear is that attractive design can keep kids attached to their phones even when they want to disengage. Compounding the risk is that adolescents, compared to adults, have a harder time regulating emotions, are more sensitive to rewards and are meant to seek out independence and explore new identities, the National Academies adds.

Social media health solutions

District leaders should continue to emphasize media literacy and provide teachers with adequate professional development in the subject one superintendent recently told District Administration was among the most important schools could teach. The report also encouraged district educators to advocate for states to set media literacy curriculum standards, particularly in digital media to make students more sophisticated and discerning users of social media.

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Educators should counsel students to use social media for social support and to avoid content that depicts illegal or risky behavior, such as self-harm, harm to others, hate speech and eating disorders. Adolescents should also be routinely screened for signs of “problematic social media use” that interferes with their ability to engage in schoolwork and other daily routines.

Educators can also encourage parents and caregivers to set guardrails by creating a family media use plan that:

• Addresses what type of and how much media is used and what media behaviors are appropriate for each child and for parents.
• Places limits on the hours per day each media platform is used.
• Promotes children and adolescents getting at least one hour of physical activity each day and at least eight hours of sleep.
• Prohibits children from sleeping with devices, including TVs, computers and smartphones.
• Designates media-free family times (such as dinner) and media-free locations (such as bedrooms).
• Ensures parents view media with children so the latter learn to use platforms creatively and collaboratively.
• Use media to learn and be creative, and share these experiences with your family and your
  community

Parents should also form a network of trusted adults—such as aunts, uncles, grandparents and coaches—who can interact productively with children on social media and help them when they encounter challenges or suspicious behavior.

Outside of schools, the report called upon the International Organization for Standardization, a tech industry watchdog, to set standards for social media platform design, transparency and data use. Social media companies themselves should develop more robust systems for reporting and rooting out online harassment of minors, from cyberbullying to sexual exploitation.

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Confirming these facts comes with a warning, however. AI-based suicide-risk prediction algorithms also “compromise student privacy and perpetuate existing inequalities,” according to the Rand Corporation’s latest analysis of the technology’s potential to protect young people.

“The adoption of AI and other types of educational technology to partially address student mental health needs has been a natural forward step for many schools during the transition to remote education,” the research nonprofit says in its report. “However, there is limited understanding about how such programs work, how they are implemented by schools, and how they may benefit or harm students and their families.”

AI monitoring tools track student activity on school-issued devices and school-administered accounts when used on personal devices. The applications analyze language, keywords and even sentiment to identify threats. Students are automatically opted-in to the tracking and they, or their parents, have to opt themselves out to block the software.

The companies that produce the software typically identify suicide risks and alert designated school personnel. One such provider, Gaggle, reported issuing more than 235,000 self-harm and violence alerts during the 2020–2021 school year, the report noted.

AI monitoring, however, is only one facet of student health and wellness, and most K12 schools and their communities still do not have sufficient resources to support the overall mental health of youths, the report asserts. Healthcare providers, parents and other caregivers are not fully aware of how schools are using AI monitoring tools, RAND added.

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Ultimately, more data is needed to show how accurately AI algorithms can detect suicide risk and whether the technology is improving student mental health, the researchers concluded.

Installing AI monitoring: Next steps

For school leaders planning to adopt or improve AI monitoring efforts, RAND recommends:

1. Engaging communities for feedback: Schools should involve parents, healthcare providers and other community members in developing policy around how AI monitoring alerts will be acted on and who will be informed that a student is at risk of harming themselves. “Through these broader consultations, the use of AI-based monitoring in schools might not be seen purely as a technical solution to a complex problem, but a part of a complementary set of interventions in the broader educational system,” the researchers advised. “
2. Notifying caregivers and students about the surveillance: Districts should make clear what activity is being tracked on websites, email and other messaging platforms, and how alerts are triggered. Parents and students should be made aware of how they can opt out, what data is being collected, where it is stored and who has access to it.
3. Establishing a consistent process for responding to alerts: Best practices include ensuring responses to alerts are coordinated between school IT personnel, safety staff, counselors and leaders. Schools and districts should also have implemented a crisis response plan that covers suicide threats, but administrators should limit reliance on law enforcement involvement, the report counsels.
4. Track outcomes of risk alerts: Schools should review how personnel are intervening with students after alerts are triggered. Administrators should consider working with researchers or other experts to examine whether the process is benefiting student mental health and preventing risky behavior. Schools should also track outcomes such as law enforcement involvement, disciplinary actions and false positives.
5. Help students understand mental health: Administrators can use the adoption of AI monitoring as an opportunity to have positive conversations with students about mental health and the support that is available to them. These conversations can take place during classroom instruction, on district websites, and at assemblies and parent-teacher events.
6. Ensure district anti-discrimination policies guide AI tracking: Research has shown that this technology can disproportionately affect marginalized students based on race, gender and disability. Schools must train civil rights personnel, legal counsel and technology leaders, among others, to ensure AI tracking does not become a method of discrimination.

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Students who fall into crisis, including those who are now exhibiting unusually aggressive behaviors or skipping school, often lack “protective factors,” such as the ability to solve problems and build relationships, Samuell contends. Exacerbating these gaps are students’ dysfunctional home lives or responsibilities such as taking care of younger siblings or elderly relatives.

“Kids are coming to us lacking decision-making skills and coping strategies,” she adds. “They are faced with responsibilities beyond their level of development. They are coming to us with a lot more than they are developmentally able to cope with.”

Suicide prevention steps

Students who lack those coping skills are also more likely to engage in risky behaviors other than suicide and self-harm. Here are 5 steps that Samuell urges administrators to take to fortify their suicide prevention approach:

1. Creating a suicide prevention policy: It may sound obvious but it bears repeating. Districts need a clear and comprehensive suicide prevention policy that lays out professional development for educators and lays the groundwork for important school- and districtwide functions such as crisis-response teams. Here are some tips for creating a crisis response team.

2. “Gatekeeper” training for teachers and staff: As teachers are the most important part of the academic enterprise, they also play a key role in identifying warning signs of students who are in crisis. Administrators must provide training to ensure teachers and other staff are able to recognize when a student is at risk of harming themselves or others. “One-stop-shop assemblies, though powerful and dynamic, can do more harm than good,” Samuell asserts. “Rather, we should embed prevention activities into classrooms—in health, English, PE—so we have prevention going on across the board.”

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3. Use universal screeners: Assessments such as the DESSA screener allow educators to gauge students’ social and emotional competence and then provide the necessary tier of instruction. “It allows us to teach from K12 in a targetted manner, just like we teach to academic skills deficits,” Samuell explains. Counselors can also use the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale to measure a student’s level of risk when they are talking about suicidal ideation or displaying suicidal behavior.

4. Strengthening school climate: Connectedness is the No. 1 factor when it comes to developing resiliency in students. Educators must help students feel confident that it is safe for them to raise concerns about bullying and other threats to their well-being. Students must also see that administrators and teachers are taking action when concerns are raised.

5. Technology’s role in suicide prevention: Administrators and their teams need to leverage all the data they collect on students to identify academic, social and behavioral risks more quickly and comprehensively. Virtual counseling and therapy can also augment in-person staff when districts and schools are shorthanded.

“We have to get away from educators’ coming into the building thinking ‘I’m not here to parent, I’m here to teach,'” Samuell concludes. “We’re in a day and age where, at school, we provide the nurture, we provide the environment and we provide the academics.”

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Nearly two-thirds of K12 parents—regardless of party affiliation—support active shooter drills and most of them agree the exercises should be evidence-based and age-appropriate, according to the Ipsos survey. A little more than half of the parents surveyed said their child had participated in an active shooter drill.

Only a small fraction of parents said they, themselves, had ever taken part in an active shooter drill.

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However, when asked to choose between physical security measures and social-emotional learning, a majority of parents preferred that their schools invest in SEL. Parents also said schools should prioritize security strategies such as metal detectors, clear backpacks and armed guards over training measures such as active shooter drills or preparing teachers to carry guns.

As for what happens during active shooter drills, most parents favored lockdown procedures (88%), blocking doors with furniture (79%) and warning students ahead of time (78%). Far fewer supported noisier measures such as banging on classroom doors or simulating gunshots.

Ultimately, most parents (83%) expressed confidence in their school’s ability to keep children safe, though only about a third of those adults said they were very confident while the rest were somewhat confident.

School safety, aside from active shooter drills

The poll also gauged parents’ and other Americans’ views on a range of school safety issues. A slightly higher number of respondents preferred hardening schools over making guns harder to access to prevent school shootings. Americans are also divided about whether the bulk of the protections should come from policies made outside schools or from armed personnel inside schools.

The survey found:

• About half (52%) say America should prioritize hardening buildings to reduce the number of school shootings while 45% say making guns harder to access should be the priority.
• Nearly half of Americans (48%) say federal, state and local government should be most responsible for keeping children safe from gun violence in school; 28% say school resource officers or school security should be most responsible.
• Most Democrats favor SEL—such as anti-bullying programming and mental health education—while the majority of Republicans want greater investment in metal detectors, clear backpacks, school resource officers and other physical security measures.

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In fact, some jurisdictions are cracking down harder than others as school and law enforcement officials contend with the disruptions, health concerns and crime they see following in vaping’s wake. Several counties in Alabama are taking what’s surely among the nation’s most aggressive responses to the problem. Students caught vaping at school in Cullman County receive a ticket and are being prosecuted in a newly created “vape court,” AL.com reports.

First-time offenders who complete an education class and community service will have their charges dropped and won’t have to pay court fees. Vaping appears to be on the decline in the district since the program started in 2021, AL.com noted. “We had 126 our first year and that decreased by 27% the following year,” a juvenile court official told AL.com. “We actually have a pretty good success rate.”

Vanquishing student vaping

Students caught vaping in Texas risk even harsher punishments. Vaping the key ingredient in marijuana, THC, is a felony in Texas and a new bill passed this year requires that students caught vaping nicotine also be removed from class and placed in a “disciplinary alternative education program.”

Northside Independent School District conducts disciplinary hearings for THC and nicotine infractions. “The number increased twofold just from 21-22 to the 22-23 school year,” Superintendent John Craft told KSAT.com. The district held 1,800 disciplinary hearings last year and a large majority of those involved THC. In comparison, there were 746 hearings for THC vaping in 2020-2021, the station added.

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Brownsville Independent School District students facing felony charges can enter a “second-chance” diversion program through the local district attorney’s office, according to MyRGV.com. Some 14 students recently had pending indictments erased after completing the “Learn, Educate, Appreciate and Develop” anti-vaping diversion program, thus avoiding consequences such as having to disclose a drug conviction on the college aid applications, the website explained.

Leaders at the Marion County School District in Mississippi describe their new vaping policy as “zero-tolerance.” Violators will be placed in one of two seven-step programs, WDAM reported.  “One is more of an introductory ‘here’s-what-vaping-does’ and we try to walk them through the stages of, if they have an addiction, how to break the addiction,” Superintendent Carl Michael Day told the station.

Some Marion County students support the rules. “I feel like it’s actually a good thing for the school because it’s a distraction if the kids want to just leave out of class to go vape or just be doing it in class and not be paying attention to the teacher,” high school senior Zion Payton told WDAM.

Funding for prevention

In a bit of good news, about 1,600 school districts are now receiving their shares of a $1.2 billion settlement against vape manufacturer Juul. Districts in Florida are in line for $438.5 million, with the small Okaloosa County School District in the panhandle planning to use its $360,000 to expand its anti-vaping campaign, Superintendent Marcus Chambers told WEAR-TV.

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Bullies and their victims both are more likely to experience poverty, struggle academically and lose jobs in adulthood. They are also more likely to commit crime and abuse drugs and alcohol. As for schools, they risk losing millions of dollars in attendance-based funding when students stay home to avoid being bullied, WalletHub reports.

The states that deal with bullying most effectively are those where research-based anti-bullying programs are easily accessible to schools, says Lori Latrice Martin, an associate dean at the College of Humanities & Social Sciences and a professor in the Department of African & African American Studies at Louisiana State University.

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And those schools have firm commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion. They also staff an appropriate number of trained professionals to address student mental health and wellness, Martin adds.

“School systems should have programs in place that protect children from bullying by fully investigating reports by students, parents, or other concerned individuals,” the professor suggests. “There must be accountability at various levels. School administrators must be held accountable for protecting students and providing services or referrals for students as needed.”

To identify where bullying is most pervasive, WalletHub examined the share of high school students getting bullied online, truancy costs, whether states have anti-bullying laws and several other metrics in 47 states and Washington, D.C. For example, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Arizona, Alaska and Iowa had the highest rates of online bullying; Rhode Island, Texas, Hawaii, Delaware and Washington, D.C. showed the lowest.

Here is WalletHub’s ranking, from highest to lowest rates of bullying:

1. California
2. Alaska
3. Nevada
4. New Jersey
5. Louisiana
6. Pennsylvania
7. Georgia
8. Wisconsin
9. Oklahoma
10. Wyoming
11. Arizona
12. Ohio
13. Iowa
14. New Hampshire
15. Mississippi
16. Tennessee
17. Texas
18. West Virginia
19. Nebraska
20. Arkansas
21. Montana
22. South Carolina
23. Missouri
24. Kansas
25. Alabama
26. Kentucky
27. North Carolina
28. Idaho
29. Illinois
30. Maryland
31. North Dakota
32. Florida
33. Michigan
34. Vermont
35. Connecticut
36. Hawaii
37. Colorado
38. South Dakota
39. New York
40. New Mexico
41. Virginia
42. Indiana
43. Utah
44. Maine
45. Washington, D.C.
46. Rhode Island
47. Massachusetts
48. Delaware

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“I feel like when you develop a culture where your people want to be—where your kids want to be, where your staff wants to come to work—that’s going to breed success,” says Youngberg, whose school is part of Flour Bluff ISD near Corpus Christi. “Why do I do what I do? I love kids and I want them to be happy where they are. I love the relationships I have with them and with their teachers and families.”

Culture-building for each school year begins long before the first bell rings on classes. During the summer, Youngberg and her team established a theme. For 2023-24, it’s gaming-inspired: “Level up on Learning: Game on Hornets.” “We’re at a good place and we want to take it up a notch,” explains Youngberg, who was recently named a National Distinguished Principal by the National Association of Elementary School Principals.

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Flour Bluff’s professional learning communities, for example, are using the term “Beekeepers” to embrace this year’s theme to level up their efforts to “be present” and “be mindful.” “My why is being part of something bigger than myself,” says Youngberg, who is in her 13th year as principal. “I have a huge job but I have the most amazing team. Definitely surround yourself with the best.”

How Flour Bluff projects positivity

If leading a building wasn’t time-consuming enough, Youngberg is also Flour Bluff ISD’s curriculum and instruction director for preK–4th grade. The role grew out of her mentorship of her fellow principals and a desire to align the elementary and primary curriculums to better set students up for success on state assessments.

She and her team are also laser-focused on their whole child initiative, which includes caring for mental health by developing students’ resilience and problem-solving skills. As part of Flour Bluff’s “Positivity Project,” teachers each week cover key personality traits such as perspective—”How it’s important to see things in different ways and it’s OK if people see things differently than you,” Youngberg explains.

Flour Bluff also offers the Watch D.O.G.S. program, which stands for “dads of great students” and brings a male role model into the school for a day to work with students. The mentor also does lunch and after-school duty and security sweeps. And the schools’ clubs cover everything from storytelling to STEM to project-based art. The school’s Ocean Club explores the wetlands owned by the district.

“They call [Flour Bluff] the ‘birdiest’ city—people come here to bird. So we have a birding club,” she says.

‘Opportunities to get better’

The politicization now swirling around education is the biggest concern keeping Youngberg up at night. The voucher program that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has been pushing to create would undoubtedly siphon funding from the public K12. “We don’t want to threaten what we have already developed and built in public school,” she says.

What hasn’t changed are some of the main roles of a principal—those include establishing relationships, keeping track of the big picture and putting all the pieces in place to operate a “great school.” “What has changed, through the COVID time, is we do see a lot more mental health issues with kids, younger and younger,” she points out. “We’re having to spend a lot more dealing with behaviors that are different.”

Youngberg loves her job and says she doesn’t plan to do anything else but be a principal. She doesn’t aspire to become a superintendent, for example. “I feel like we’re never perfect,” she concludes “We always need to learn and grow—mistakes are opportunities to get better.”

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School shootings are most common in Texas and Georgia and least likely to occur in Rhode Island and Hawaii.

Overall, the safest states for high school students are those where the risk of threats, fights or injuries with a weapon and exposure to illegal drugs on school property are low. Almost all southern states are at the bottom of the list—along with two northeastern states, Pennsylvania and New York—due to the highest likelihood of school shootings, more students carrying weapons, and high rates of sexual assault on school property.

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Recent research shows that less punitive restorative justice appears to be a more successful approach to improving behavior than a harsh disciplinary crackdown or a reversion to zero-tolerance suspensions, a University of Chicago study asserts.

In Chicago public high schools that have adopted the practice, arrests fell by 19% and out-of-school suspensions dropped by nearly as much, according to “From Retributive to Restorative,” a report released by the National Bureau on Economic Research.

Safest states for high school students

Here are Scholaroo’s overall rankings, starting with the safest states:

1. Washington
2. Delaware
3. Kentucky
4. Oklahoma
5. New Jersey
6. Connecticut
7. Minnesota
8. South Dakota
9. Massachusetts
10. Vermont
11. New Hampshire
12. Michigan
13. Nebraska
14. New Mexico
15. Hawaii
16. Indiana
17. Rhode Island
18. Colorado
19. Idaho
20. Ohio
21. Maine
22. Alaska
23. Wisconsin
24. Arizona
25. Maryland
26. South Carolina
27. North Dakota
28. Utah
29. Mississippi
30. Virginia
31. Iowa
32. Missouri
33. Illinois
34. Kansas
35. Nevada
36. California
37. Montana
38. West Virginia
39. Wyoming
40. Oregon
41. Arkansas
42. Florida
43. Alabama
44. Tennessee
45. New York
46. Texas
47. Pennsylvania
48. North Carolina
49. Louisiana
50. Georgia

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