State policies to equalize educational spending, cap bond and levy rates, require common teacher salary schedules, and consolidate school districts are geared toward improving quality and attempting to resolve problems of inefficiency. However, despite the use of state policy to equalize educational quality, educational gaps persist. Yu and Lau (2006) noted that no matter how well a systematic reform policy is conceptualized and planned, particular school district and school building constraints, resources, culture, leadership, and personnel particulars eventually determine whether the reform implementation will or will not be successful. The findings in this study support their conclusions that local contextual variables dramatically influence application of reform policy and thus student outcomes. While case study analyses have supported the importance of unique local variables on successful reform implementation, few quantitative or large-scale study methods have been explored to detect the presence or effects of these variations. Methods used in geospatial studies to detect such variation examine the concepts of spatial autocorrelation and spatial heterogeneity. The study reported in this article used these methods to analyze the relative student proficiency in school districts across two contiguous Midwestern states, Illinois and Iowa. The results support the use of more differentiated and district-level reform policy development rather than the centralized state and federal approaches that are dominant today.