Connecticut ranks 7th in the country in graduation rates – with 77% of its students graduating. Raising Hale’s Zachary Janowski discovered that the average cost of a public school diploma in CT (cumulative spending for K-12) is $133,000. With such an impressive investment, you’d think those students are all getting high marks. But unfortunately, that is not the case: our friends at National School Choice Week refer to NAEP sources on CT showing that 57% of 12th graders are not proficient in reading, and 71% of 12th graders are not proficient in math.