Chip Taylor

Things that make you go, "hmmmm."

State Gains Not Echoed In Federal Testing
Results Fuel Criticism Of Md., Va. Education

In Maryland and Virginia public schools, statewide exams are a cause for perpetual celebration. Scores go up almost every year in virtually every grade level and subject tested. On the Maryland School Assessment this year, scores rose in all 24 school systems.

But on another test, the only one given by the federal government to public students nationwide, scores tell a different story. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Maryland students have improved their proficiency since 2003 in just one area, fourth-grade math. Virginia scores are up, but not by much, and eighth-grade reading performance has stalled.

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