SmartAsset looked at 10 across-the-board metrics of education, placing special emphasis on how well states are preparing students for college, and found the best schools are located in the northeast.

"Led by Connecticut, each of the top four states in our study is located in the northeast, and seven of the top 10 are on the east coast," reported SmartAsset. "Most notable among these states was the high rate of college-attendance. In New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Connecticut, over 70 percent of high school graduates attend college within 12 months of graduating."

The study found Connecticuts' efforts to not just educate its K-12 students, but to also give them the opportunity to enroll in college. "Connecticut had the third highest college-enrollment rate of any state in the country, with 76% of high school graduates enrolling in college within 12 month of graduation." 

To assess the quality of state public education, SmartAsset looked at data from the College Board, the ACT, the National Center for Education Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Education Association. They looked at ten specific metrics, including funding per student, average SAT and ACT scores, and the student-teacher ratio.

Data also found that schools in the west can do better. "The west is home to all four of the lowest-grading states in our study," reported SmartAsset, "and six of the eight states that received an overall F are west of the continental divide. Washington, Arizona, Oregon and Nevada all have below average college-attendance rates, below average per-student spending levels and high-than-average student-teacher ratios."

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By Samantha DiMauro, Education World Contributor