A new Quality Counts 2015 report card takes a fresh approach to grading the nation's education policy. With a focus on outcomes rather than policy and processes, the State of the State's grading report issues an overall grade of C, or 74.3 points out of 100, to the nation. Pennsylvania schools received an overall grade of B-minus, which placed it eighth in the nation.

The 2015 edition of Education Week's Quality Counts report uses three key categories, which were developed by the Education Week Research Center. These three areas are Chance for Success, School Finance and K-12 Achievement.

This year, the report added "Preparing to Launch: Early Childhood's Academic Countdown." This new index tries to take a snapshot of the country's early-childhood services and programs. As part of the report, research analyzes participation in early-education programs, poverty-based gaps in enrollment and trends over time. Both the nation and Pennsylvania earned a D-plus on this index, while half the states earned grades in the C-minus to C-plus range.

With no federal or state mandates and inadequate funding for public early-childhood education programs, the index finds inconsistent performance across the indicators.

"No state really aces the exam on early-childhood education," said Christopher B. Swanson, vice president of Editorial Projects in Education, the nonprofit organization that publishes Education Week.

Bethlehem Area School District's Superintendent Dr. Joseph D. Roy said, "Pre-K education is critical, but is not something that our district would expand using local budget/tax dollar funds since, in my view, it is beyond the K-12 traditional role of public schools."

In the other report categories, new results for the Chance for Success Index captures the role of education in a person's life from cradle to career. With a C-plus grade, the nation is holding steady in its efforts to promote positive learning experiences for youths and opportunities for adults to make good on a good education. With a grade of B, Pennsylvania ranked 15th in this category. For the eighth consecutive year, Massachusetts tops the nation with a grade of A-minus.

Quality Counts 2015 also analyzes school finance by examining school spending patterns and the distribution of education dollars within states using 2012 data, which was the most recent available.

While the nation's grade of C remains unchanged over the past several years, a total of 21 states hover in the C-minus to C-plus range. Fifteen states earn a D-plus or lower. Pennsylvania ranked 11th in this category with a B-minus.

The U.S. average for per-pupil spending stands at $11,735 after adjusting for regional cost differences. In Pennsylvania, $15,341 was spent per student in 2012, a $666 increase from the $14,675 spent in 2010, according to OpenPAgov.org.

Last updated in 2014, the Education Week Research Center's K-12 Achievement Index rounds out the "State of the State" report card. The index assesses the performance of a state's public schools against a broad set of 18 indicators that include current achievement levels, improvements over time and poverty-based gaps. This category includes high school graduation rates and Advanced Placement exam scores. Massachusetts, Maryland and New Jersey earned a B.

Overall, the K-12 Achievement Index found improved scores in 27 states and the District of Columbia from 2012 to 2014.