 |
|
|
||
|
By Diette Courrégé For those who think South Carolina students are the worst readers in the country, think again. Test results released Wednesday showed Palmetto State fourth-graders reading as well as or better than students in 19 other states and eighth-graders reading as well as or better than students in 16 other states, according to the U.S. Department of Education. The National Assessment of Education Progress is the only exam that allows states to compare their results with one another, and it tests a representative sample of students in each state. For that reason, scores for individual schools and districts are unavailable. Students' performance on the exam that's required by the federal No Child Left Behind law changed little between 2007 and 2009, the last time the exam was given. The state's fourth-graders averaged 216 on the 500-point NAEP scale in 2009, up from 214 in 2007 and slightly below the national average of 220. The state's eighth-graders' average score was unchanged at 257 and below the national average of 262. Nationally, fourth-grade students' scores were unchanged while eighth-graders scores increased by one point. |
||||
|
|
||||