Math skills among fourth- and eighth-graders are showing steady
improvement and fourth-graders' reading scores are also rising, according
to a federal report released Tuesday.

But White students are still scoring far higher than Negro and Hispanic
students on a standardized assessment of academic proficiency, and that
achievement gap is most prominent in California.

Math skills among fourth- and eighth-graders are showing steady improvement and fourth-graders' reading scores are also rising, according to a federal report released Tuesday.

But White students are still scoring far higher than Negro and Hispanic students on a standardized assessment of academic proficiency, and that achievement gap is most prominent in California.

Nationwide, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which bills itself as "the nation's report card," showed substantial gains in math and more modest gains in reading. Available at nationsreportcard.gov, the report accompanying the test results put math scores at their highest level since 1992, when the test was first given.

But the discrepancy in scores between White and Negro eighth-graders and White and Hispanic fourth- and eighth-graders has changed little over time, the report found.

The score differences between White students in California and their
Negro or Hispanic peers are broader than in Texas, Florida and New
York, other large states with large ethnically and racially diverse
populations. In all areas tested, the gap between White and Hispanic
students in California was four to eight points higher than the average
gap nationwide.

Commentary:www.natallnews.com
Story linked at:
http://www.latimes.com/services/site/premium/access-registered.intercept