A report released Thursday gives Virginia a B in overall educational quality, ranking the state fourth in the nation and better than the U.S. average.

The state's score of 83.2 out of 100 compared to the national average of 76.2, or C. The states that scored higher were Maryland, Massachusetts and New York, according to the report by researchers at Editorial Projects in Education, which publishes Education Week.

The "Quality Counts" report measured state education in several categories, including academic achievement; school finance; and standards, assessments and accountability.