Here is a rating of the public school systems in the various states based on performance of white students only. It is no surprise to me that Montana and North Dakota are at the top. Texas is sixth among states. (Seventh in the list because DOD is included and is sixth.):

http://anepigone.blogspot.com/2007/11/state-rankings-by-naep-improvement.html

It doesn't surprise me that Texas rates well. Texas has always had eexcellent schools even though that was not recognized by liberals from the East and West Coasts. When I was in school in Houston there was a lot of criticism of the schools in Houston. I remember a magazine article, I think it was in Life, that said Houston had the worst school system in the country. The reason was that the Houston system concentrated on "hard" subjects like Grammar, Math and science rather than teaching self esteem, and "getting along with others." After Sputnik in 1957 that attitude changed for a while.

This past weekend I attended my wife's 50 year re-union of her graduating class from Lamar high school in Houston. Back in 1957 that was the top public high school in the US. Rich people took their children out of private schools to attend Lamar. Walt Fondren, heir to the Humble Oil (now Exxon) fortune, went to school there, and was the quarterback on the football team that won the state championship. (Later he was an All-American at UT.) Robert Wilson, Nobel Prize in Physics in 1978 was there with Fondren. Lamar has a lot of famous graduates in Entertainment. Tommy Sands, Tommy Tune, and Carlin Glynn (star of the "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" on Broadway) were there with my wife. Later movie and TV stars Jacklyn Smith, Paula Prentiss, and Robert Foxworth attended Lamar. Lamar's national status declined after integration started. Now Lamar has about 1/3 black, 1/3 hispanic, and 1/3 white students, and still is exceptional.