New test scores on reading show little progress
Thursday, March 25, 2010 
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The National Assessment of Educational Progress just released findings from its 2009 reading assessment showing that reading scores are flat for American students in fourth and eighth grades.
Results indicate that the percentage of fourth-graders performing at or above proficiency in reading increased from 29 percent in 1992 to 33 percent in 2009. For eighth-graders, the increase was from 29 percent in 1992 to 32 percent in 2009.
This, in a word, is pathetic. In 17 years, we’ve finally managed to get one-third of kids to read proficiently?
Anyone who thinks the results show we’re moving in the right direction and says they choose to see the glass as half-full instead of half-empty is in serious denial.
As if these statistics aren’t bad enough, on a different set of criteria California’s scores fall below the national average. A scale devised by the NAEP from zero to 500 is based on two types of reading, literary and informational. California recorded dismal scores, even lower than the already lackluster United States averages:
Year 2009 2007 1992
. CA/US CA/US CA/US
Reading
4th grade 210/220 209/220 202/215
8th grade 253/262 251/261 –/–
Mathematics
4th grade 232/239 230/239 208/219
8th grade 270/282 270/280 261/267
Read more: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2010-03-25/blog/teachable-moments/new-test-scores-on-reading-show-little-progress#ixzz0jHbvHIq4