8th grade math, reading and science composite scores by state
For the most recent years available, math and science (1996) and reading (1998) scores reflect the percentage of students in each subject who were proficient. In order to make a simpler list, I've added the three scores for each state and divided by three to get a single average score per state. The states are ranked according to academic proficiency in descending order, with best-performing Maine at the top and so forth. Also included are the graduation rates and ranking (in which Washington, D.C. is counted as a state) for the 1996-1997 school year.

Only 33 states participated, but it is enough to see whether paddling helps achieve academic success. Of the paddling states listed, those that are in the "top ten" of 23 states that permit the practice are in bold type. Notice the high-paddling states cluster toward the bottom of the pile in the company of the worst performers academically. None of this is to say paddling causes poor performance or lower graduation rates, but it must be obvious even to the casual observer that paddling does not correlate to academic excellence.

Among the states that didn't submit all data--13 submitted partially--the same trend holds there. Five of the seven that had two categories above average were non-paddling, while the paddling states tended toward the bottom. People may like to paddle children and teens, but it has nothing to do with academic performance. Were paddling beneficial to the educational process, one would reasonably expect the magnitudes shown in the chart below to be reversed.

8th grade national reading, math and science composite comparison of the 33 states that reported is based on information taken from the World Almanac 2000. Graduation rate and rank are taken from the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. Entries in bold type indicate the respective states are among the top ten of the 23 paddling states ranked according to the % of students paddled. Paddling statistics are from the Office of Civil Rights 1998 Elementary and Secondary School Civil Rights Compliance Report.